Burial Study Background Paper

Wealden District Local Plan Burial Study Background Paper Proposed Submission Document August 2018 How to Contact Us Planning Policy Wealden District Council Council Offices, Vicarage Lane, Hailsham, East Sussex BN27 2AX Telephone 01892 602008 E-mail: [email protected] Website: www.wealden.gov.uk Office hours Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday 8.30am to 5.00pm and Wednesday 9.00am to 5.00pm You may also visit the offices Monday to Friday, to view other Local Plan documents. A copy of the Wealden Local Plan and associated documents can be downloaded from the Planning Policy pages of the Wealden website, www.wealden.gov.uk/planningpolicy or scan the QR code below with your smart phone. If you, or somebody you know, would like the information contained in this document in large print, Braille, audio tape/ CD or in another language please contact Wealden District Council on 01323 443322 or [email protected] Contents 1. Project Background .................................................................................. 2 2. Project Objectives ..................................................................................... 3 3. Project Activities ....................................................................................... 4 4. Findings .................................................................................................... 5 Trends .......................................................................................................... 5 Burial statistics by type ................................................................................. 7 Outflow of Wealden residents to neighbouring districts .............................. 10 Projected potential deficit of burial space & future requirements for burial space until 2028 ......................................................................................... 11 All current burial space within the district ................................................... 14 5. Conclusion .............................................................................................. 19 6. Appendices ............................................................................................. 21 Appendix A – Wealden population by age, gender, parish and religious preference .................................................................................................. 22 Appendix B – Questionnaire Response Summary Tables .......................... 28 Appendix C – Tables detailing future burial space availability within Wealden throughout the plan period (until 2037)........................................ 31 Appendix D – Details of all identified Burial Grounds in Wealden .............. 34 Appendix E – List of Tables and Figures .................................................... 51 Tables ..................................................................................................... 51 Figures .................................................................................................... 51 Wealden Burial Provision Study Summary Report Page | 1 Wealden Burial Provision Study Summary Report 1. Project Background 1.1 As part of the provision of infrastructure and facilities to support the growth of around 11,456 new homes envisaged in the Wealden Local Plan, we need to understand the situation regarding existing burial space in Wealden, where this is and the capacity remaining in existing graveyards. We also need to understand what the potential future demand for burial space may be and assess how we can monitor change and cater for this demand in the future. 1.2 Wealden District Council is not currently a burial authority, and does not currently own or manage any cemeteries or crematoria within the District.1 Residents of Wealden however, use municipal graveyards and crematoria within neighbouring authorities in East Sussex and Kent, for the cremation or burial of family members. For the purposes of the audit of facilities, supply and demand for services, we will assume that this trend will continue. 1.3 We already have a lot of information about national trends, preferences and cultural traditions around death, burial and cremation, but have little information about the local picture. This is the gap we need to bridge to assess needs and plan for future requirements. There is no requirement to register cemeteries on any national database so all information needs to be gathered through local sources. 1 Wealden District Council is funding ad developing a new purpose built Crematorium in Horam, which is due to open in late 2018. Wealden Burial Provision Study Summary Report Page | 2 2. Project Objectives 2.1 The objectives we set out to achieve through this project were to: • Profile the historic, current and projected trends regarding population, demographic change, religious preferences and death rates at District & Parish level, presented as tables & graphs, with narrative. • Gather and analyse statistics on the relative proportions of burials (traditional and ‘green’) and cremations, presenting data at Parish & District levels; and also in relation to outflows to adjoining authorities • Analyse the outflow of residents to neighbouring districts, for burial and/or cremation – to be presented in tables, graphs, narrative and also in mapped format. • Create a table showing the analysis of projected deficit of burial space within the District up until 2028, taking into account out-flows to other authority areas – including projection of capacity critical timescale (i.e. when existing space available is full). • Create a table showing the assessment of future requirements for burial space within the District – No of full body plots, child plots, cremated remain plots required to meet demand – taking into account project outflows. • Provide a list of current cemeteries and burial space within the District, including information on location, parish area, isolated or connected to a religious building, whether these are secular/religious burial grounds, indication of religious denominations, secular body responsible for the management of the burial ground, age of burial ground (when first opened and if relevant closed), numbers of plots provided, numbers of plots (capacity) available (on the basis of full body plots, child plots, and cremated remains), potential space through re-openings (family plots), plans/potential to expand existing burial space. • Provide a plan(s) showing the location of all burial spaces across the district, with parish boundaries shown, with spaces coloured to denote whether burial space is closed or open, whether it is secular (and open Wealden Burial Provision Study Summary Report Page | 3 to everyone) or attached to a religious establishment (which may limit those who would be accepted for burial). • Create a table to show the % outflow of Wealden residents to specific cemeteries/crematoria in adjacent authorities. • Provide a ‘strategic’ plan which shows the location of cemeteries, crematoria in adjacent authority areas – with the general preference of residents in different parts of the district to adjacent authorities facilities (if this can be gleaned from post code information from adjacent authorities). • Create a table showing the areas of the District where burial space needs are critical/likely to be critical within the plan period. • Provide a plan showing areas of the District where burial space needs are critical/likely to be critical within the plan period (as a heat map if possible and appropriate). 3. Project Activities 3.1 In order to meet the project objectives our aims were to: • Contact all burial authorities in the District, including churches and town & parish councils; • Contact all funeral directors in the District; • Contact a small number of funeral directors immediately adjoining the District; • Analyse our findings and produce a summary report to serve as a Background Paper for the Wealden Local Plan. Wealden Burial Provision Study Summary Report Page | 4 4. Findings Trends 4.1 Figures 1.1 and 1.2 show the population projections for the Local Plan period of 2013-2028; the projected increases have been calculated using the Strategic Housing Market Area (SHMA) average annual population growth figure for Wealden of 921. This gives a population increase over the plan period of 10,131 people (6.5%). A more detailed breakdown of population by age group, gender, parish and religious preference is given in Appendix A. Figure 1.1 Wealden Population projections through the Local Plan period2 170,000 165,173 160,568 160,000 155,042 150,000 140,000 130,000 120,000 110,000 Population Projection Projection Population 100,000 2017 2023 2028 Year 4.2 The projected number of deaths within Wealden has been based on the population projections above and a death rate of 1.08%. This death rate has been used as it represents the average for the most recent 7 years (2008-2014) of available data in Wealden. 2 Figure 1.1 Source: calculated using 2012-based SNPP (ONS) Wealden Burial Provision Study Summary Report Page | 5 4.3 The figures show that the number of deaths likely to occur each year will rise by 6.6% over the plan period, in correlation with the projected population increase. Figure 1.2 Wealden death projections through the Local Plan period3 2000 1,784 1,674 1,734 1500 1000 Death Projections Projections Death 500 0 2017 2023 2028 Year 4.4 The latest available data on religious preference is summarised in Figure 1.3 (see Table 1.3 in Appendix A for more detail). Whilst there are several negligible adjustments,

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