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Tag: Local Authority

Policies on paper become real moments in parks, on beaches and beside rivers. This tag gathers stories and timely updates from local authorities and councils that shape how families plan ashes scatterings and memorials. You’ll find human-interest pieces where thoughtful officers, rangers...

Do You Need Permission to Scatter Ashes in a Cemetery?

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Do You Need Permission to Scatter Ashes in a Cemetery? A common question asked. I am wondering because I think people probably know the answer already, but are hoping the answer – “It’s fine, just go for it”. However, it is not: do you need permission? The short answer is yes, it is not your […]

What are the Costs in the UK for Burying Ashes in a Family Grave Plot? 2025

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Updated Guide: Costs for Burying Ashes in a Family Grave Plot (UK, 2024–2025) Summary of Observed Ranges Lowest / rural / existing grave: ~ £100 (for the interment only) Reassured More common / mid-range: ~ £250–£500+ London Borough of Barking and Dagenham+3Westmorland and Furness Council+3Worcester Cemeteries+3 Higher / premium / urban cemeteries / full lease […]

Why do so many Local Authority Crematoria look so down at heal?

Public Private Partnership in the Funeral world – An Oxymoron? Why do so many crematoria look so down at heal? In many local authorities there has been a complete lack of investment in their crematoria. As a consequence some families are not getting quality or good value funerals plus there is higher air pollution with […]

Mother left distraught after council ‘vandalise” grave

Council Vandalises Grave – Mother Left Distraught A grieving mother has railed against the council for what she considered to be the vandalising of her son’s grave: they removed ancillary memorial items – flowers, vases etc from the grave. This is not uncommon, the reason it makes the news is the sensitivity of the individual […]

Welsh Council manages to dig up garden of remberance by accident!

Welsh Council Accidentally Digs Up Garden of Remembrance Families in the Welsh town of Dendigh were left heartbroken after the area where ashes were scatter and rose bushes were planted was dug up/ dug over by unsuspecting council workers. It would appear employees working for the council took it upon themselves to clear a plot […]

Council ponders the profit from a Columbarium

What should a council charge someone for a niche in their Columbarium? An interesting question, the Henley Standard reported on this giving us a rare insist into the machinations of a local authority in such matters. The town council has spent around £90,000 to fix up and convert a disused non-conformist chapel into a columbarium […]

Dumping of Ashes makes a Scottish beauty spot unsightly

Scatter ashes at beauty spots hits the papers again For ten years I have writing about scattering ashes, where you can and where you can’t, what you should and shouldn’t do. In fact, in one of my early post I had angry walker in the Lake District blaming me [how very dare he!] for the […]

Scattering Location for Hindu and Sikhs on the river clyde

Scattering ashes location for Sikh and Hindus in Glasgow Scotland

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Scattering Ashes on the Clyde: A Welcome Step Forward—and a More Personal Alternative Inverclyde Council, on the banks of Scotland’s River Clyde, has become the first local authority in the country to officially recognise and make provision for Hindu and Sikh communities in the form of a dedicated ashes scattering site. This thoughtful gesture acknowledges […]

Family traumatised by Councils neglect of memorial rose garden

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A slightly different blog this week we have been contacted by a lady who is struggling to communicate with Trafford Council about the rose garden where her daughters ashes rest, this is what she said: In 1997 my daughter Jeannine died at the age of 30 after a very short illness so we were devastated […]

Are councils refusing to hand over ashes in the cases of ‘pauper funerals’?

Controversial claims that local authorities limit access to cremated remains for low-income families Right, a controversial subject. Let’s us attempt to set out the stall in a nonpartisan fashion. A Pauper Funeral is an old-fashioned/emotive term for funerals where the local authority are required to step in as the family are either unwilling or unable […]

Trinidad Tobago Unsightly Deposit of Cremated Remains

Unsightly deposit of cremated remains in Trinidad and Tobago

Cremation ashes pile up on the Caroni River bank, prompting cultural concern I hate having to admit my ignorance, but I never knew: the largest ethnic make-up of people in Trinidad and Tobago hail from the Indian Sub-continent. And with them they brought Hinduism and associate death rituals. Well it seems that where bodies are […]

Secret Scattering to Avoid Witness Fee at Crematorium

Families Illegally Scatter Ashes to Sidestep £51 Witness Charge Officials at Dudley Council in the Midlands have revealed that there has been a rise in families going into the memorial gardens at Gornal Wood and Stourbridge Crematoriums and scattering the ashes of their loved one’s without permission. There are questions being raised as to why […]

Council Policy Too Blunt? No — Burial Charge Mistake

Non-Resident Burial Fee Error and Authority Apology Coping with the death of a loved one is difficult at the best of times and small injustices can become magnified many times over, here we have the case of a lady from Pontypool in Wales, who was organising the burial of her disabled brother’s ashes and because […]

Cremation – What you get and what it costs – 2016

The average cost of cremation currently is just below the £700 mark. The cost of the fuel for the cremation is around £30. What! I hear you cry that is outrageous! Well yes, but it is not quite as simple as that. The question is are we being ripped off? Or are we getting value for money? […]

Variation in cremation cost across the UK 2016

Why Cremation Prices Differ Significantly Between Regions and Providers Every year crematoria are getting more expensive and there is now a big difference between the top and the bottom. From the lowest price is from a crematoria run by the a local authority – Belfast City council, where the cost is £364 the highest is a private […]

Communal ashes area and insensitive councils?

When shared burial of cremated remains leads to disagreement Everyone gets annoyed with the Council from time to time: over zealous traffic wardens, coming across the odd ‘computer says no’ clerk, or the librarian who doesn’t want their books disturbed. Those images seem to stick in the mind as opposed to the good ‘stuff’ that […]

A problem with personal memorialisation in Nottingham Crematoria’s communal woodland

The needs of the individual will often come into conflict with the needs many, and here is a case in point. Ms Kara Thrall scattered the ashes of her mother and grandmother in the same spot in Nottingham’s Wilford Hill Crematorium in the communal woodland. On the 3rd anniversary of her death Ms Thrall visited […]

charges over ashes scattering wakefield crem

Charging for Families to Witness a Scattering Ceremony

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Local Authorities are often at the sharp end of public anger when it comes to bereavement services, in extreme cases like the baby ashes scandal at Morten Hall or issues around removal of memorial items from a grave plot. I tend not to be partisan on behalf of the public, councils often have a difficult […]

Is it grave robbing or grounds maintenance?

Grave Robbing or Grounds Maintenance? When Councils Remove Items from Graves Darren Bibb is angry with Solihull Council: accusing them of grave robbing! Mr Bibb’s disabled son passed away just after his 18th birthday in 2011, and the family decided to place a stone memorial over where his ashes are buried on the grass and adjacent […]

The case of the Cremation without the family knowing

This is the sad case of Mr Fitzpatrick who passed way in August. He had suffered depression for some time and it is believed he committed suicide. At the time he was living on his own, his children had left home and he was estranged from his partner, with whom we was still on good […]

The changing face of municipal memorialisation part II

Municipal Memorialisation Part II — Councils and Ashes Memorials I wrote last week about a councillor in Scotland trying to get support for the use of a wall within a cemetery to put plaques for those who scatter their loved ones ashes and wish to have a place to memorialise. This was in the news […]

The changing face of municipal memorialsation

The Changing Face of Municipal Memorialisation and Ashes It would seem councils are waking up to the fact that people are general cremated and now that people no longer scatter their loved ones ashes at the crematoria that they may have changing role in relation to public memorialisation. I came across this from Kelso in […]

A lady digs up her rose bush from the garden of remembrance

Lady Removes Rose Bush from Crematorium Garden of Remembrance The garden of remembrance at a crematoria was once a popular choice to place the ashes of a loved one whilst it is becoming less so, there are still many who use the facility it would appear mainly for practical and connection reasons. The usually gardens […]