Councillors to consider revised management rules for Highland Burial Grounds

At a meeting of The Highland Council’s Transport, Environmental and Community (TEC) Services on Thursday 21 January Highland Councillors will be asked to approve revised management rules for burial grounds that will include arrangements for burial lairs to be sold in perpetuity.

The Council approved the current management rules for burial grounds in 1999. Under Section 112 of the Civic Government (Scotland) Act 1982, the Council is required to revise and confirm the rules for another 10 years.

TEC Services consulted funeral directors, memorial masons and the Presbytery of Inverness, and went out to public consultation in September and October 2009 on proposed changes to the management rules.

The draft proposals, which were presented to the TEC Services Committee in August, proposed that burial lairs were sold with a limited, but renewable tenure of 25 years. There was significant resistance to this proposal during the consultation period, and it is now proposed that the Council reverts to selling lairs in perpetuity.

Neil Gillies, Highland Council’s Director of TEC Services said: “We went out to consultation, listened to what all the interested parties and members of the public had to say and we have responded positively by taking their concerns about renewal of burial lairs into consideration.”

Members of the Council’s TEC Services will be invited to approve the revised management rules for burial grounds and agree that the revised rules will be implemented from 1 April 2010.