RESTRICTIONS are set to be imposed at three cemeteries in Helensburgh and Lomond on the pre-sale of lairs as space begins to run out.
The visitor hotspot of Luss Churchyard is one of those affected – with a report warning that a new location may have to be considered if a local burial service is retained.
A senior Argyll and Bute official says that the sale of lairs at Luss, and also at Faslane cemetery near Garelochhead, should be restricted to local residents only.
The report also says Barbour Cemetery in Kilcreggan is thought to have less than 10 years’ availability left at the current rate of lair sales.
Land next to Barbour Cemetery has been deemed unsuitable for an expansion due to the shallow rock depth.
The report, by executive director Kirsty Flanagan, says there is no option to expand any of the three sites.
The report will go before Argyll and Bute Council’s environment, development and infrastructure (EDI) committee on Thursday, March 21.
Ms Flanagan says in her report: “At the March 2023 EDI committee a cemetery rule change was agreed that remaining lair space in any operational cemetery will be considered critical, when the current rate of unrestricted lair sales indicates there are less than 10 years until all lairs are sold.
“In such cases sale of lairs will be restricted to ‘at point of requirement’ for a first interment. There will be no resumption of ‘pre-purchase’ of lairs, until such time, as additional lair space has been developed and made available.
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“Further to this, there have been historical local agreements agreed at area committee level. These further restricted the sale of lairs to local residents or parish members only.
“An example of this is Luss Church Yard Cemetery, which is very popular and had many requests for the purchase of lairs from non-residents of Argyll and Bute, and which would have a detrimental effect on local residents looking to be buried there.
“In the absence of the further restrictions on lair sales, it is very likely that the lair availability in Luss would have reached or nearly reached capacity.
“Officers have monitored this over the last 10 months and note that whilst the stop on the pre-sale of lairs has been helpful in allowing time to look at extending cemeteries or purchasing land, there is a further issue in that islands and some very localised cemeteries have limited availability.
“To further support the EDI cemetery rule change from March 2023, officers recommend that where there are issues with land acquisition or extension in island and outlying cemeteries with limited choice for burials nearby, that the local arrangements are sanctioned on top of the stop on pre-sale of lairs to include sale for local residents/islanders only.”
Ms Flanagan concluded: “The cemetery estate has sufficient overall capacity for the next 30 years’ operation, but locally, restrictions are in place to preserve remaining lair space.
“These restrictions however can better support our island communities and more rural communities if a ‘local residents/islanders’ restriction on the sale of lairs was sanctioned to support this.”
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