Church in Wales says grave space is running out

Alex Glanville, the Head of Property for the Church in Wales has told Premier that managing cemeteries is a difficult job at the moment because of a serious lack of space. 

He told Premier that in about 5 years’ time 2/3 of their burials grounds would have no new space for new graves. 

Describing why some might be concerned, he said: “That’s a matter of personal choice…but people in Wales particularly are strongly associated with where they come from, down to their local village and I think in a lot of cases people hope that when they pass away they will then be buried in that community but, as I say, that’s becoming an increasingly difficult thing to allow for.”

He said finding more land was very challenging and very costly and also hard work when demand is high: “With our burial grounds, each of them is looked after by the local congregation, the church congregation, and taking on yet more responsibility for burials when our church grounds are open to all, they’re not for only our members…that’s a big challenge for local congregations.”

Glanville added that if people want to open more burial spaces there should be local support to do that because they are hard to maintain but also places of immense comfort. 

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The Church in Wales have warned that people may not be able to be buried where they wish because they are running out of space in their cemeteries.