Bereavement Services - burial and cremation

1. Meanings of words and phrases

In these regulations, certain words and phrases are used, and they have the following meanings:

“Cemetery” means any ground used either currently or at one time as a burial ground for the interment of human remains.

“The council” means the South Lanarkshire Council or any Council officer who has delegated authority working on behalf of the council.

“Exclusive Right of Burial” means the right to inter (bury) human remains in a lair (the ground remains in the ownership of the council). This also includes the right to erect a memorial on the lair.

“Lair” means the plot of ground to be used for the interment of human remains.

“Lair holder” means the person who has purchased the burial rights in the lair.

“Interment” means a burial

“Common Ground” means an area or a lair for the burial of those people who die with no means to pay for a burial or lair

2. Layout of cemetery and designation of plots

2.1 The council will designate plots of land within cemeteries under their control for use as individual graves or lairs.

2.2 Exclusive Rights of burial in the lairs may be purchased from the council on payment of the fee fixed by the council and are available to both residents and non-residents of South Lanarkshire.

2.3 The council will prepare a plan showing the layout of the cemetery identifying common burial ground and lairs.

3. Purchase of burial rights

3.1 Lairs will only be sold in advance where there is sufficient capacity in each cemetery to do so. Where a cemetery has, based on the average number of new lairs purchased annually, less than five years' capacity, advanced sale of lairs will not be permitted.

3.2 Fees for the purchase of burial rights will be set by the council on an annual basis.

3.3 A table of Interment Fees and other charges shall be kept within the Bereavement Services Office, South Lanarkshire Crematorium, Sydes Brae, Blantyre and published on the council’s website. In addition, all fees and charges in connection with interments, lair certificates, and so on, shall be acknowledged on official printed receipt forms.

3.4 The selection of the lair purchased and to be opened for interment will be at the discretion of the council. At all times, the council will attempt to allocate a desired lair, but cannot guarantee being able to do so.

3.5 On payment of the fee, the council will grant to the purchaser of the burial rights a Lair Certificate confirming that the lair holder has purchased the rights to be buried in the lair specified in the certificate.

3.6 All rights of burial and associated memorial rights within South Lanarkshire Council Cemeteries will be sold in perpetuity. The rights of the council to terminate burial rights under certain circumstances are discussed in paragraph 9.

4. Succession to burial rights

On the death of the Lairholder, their executor shall be entitled on production of evidence of their appointment as such executor, the right, to have registered as Lairholder in the councils records either (i) the said executor or (ii) any other person whom the executor shall nominate to be Lairholder.

In such cases a new certificate will be prepared to include the amended details on the original Lair Certificate or a new Certificate issued, but no new Certificates shall be issued until the original is produced and surrendered to the council or accounted for satisfactorily.

If a Lairholder dies leaving a lawful spouse/ civil partner and children and shall have made no valid bequest of the lair, the Lairholder’s spouse/civil partner and children, shall have the right to interment in the lair for themselves. In the absence of any of the Lairholder’s immediate offspring surviving the Lairholder, the right of interment shall devolve to the children of the Lairholder’s children (the Lairholder’s grandchildren), and so on until there are no further descendants of the Lairholder.

Where there is no agreement on the succession of the rights of burial between any of the appropriate parties, the council will suspend the use of the lair until agreement has been reached.

A lair holder may specify his/her successor by either bequeathing the rights to an individual in his/her will or notifying the council of the identity of the successor to the rights on his death.

On succession to the burial rights, the new lair holder may request the council on payment of the appropriate fee fixed by the council, to change the name in the register of lair holders to his or her own name.

In the interests of protecting the rights of all parties any transfer of Exclusive Right of Burial shall be subject to the appropriate provisions in the Statutory Declaration Act 1835. This ensures the necessary confirmation of the facts in a legal context.

The council does not accept any liability for any loss suffered as a result of an error arising from the acceptance of the council in good faith of evidence provided to them.

5. Non-transferable rights

5.1 No lair holder will be entitled to sell their burial rights unless the rights are being sold to the council in return for the original fee paid by the lair holder.

5.2 A lair holder will be entitled to exercise his/her burial rights in relation to the interment of anyone who is not a member of the lair holder’s family, but only where the lair holder does not receive any monetary or other consideration for doing so.

6. Burials

6.1 In the first instance Burial bookings are taken at the Bereavement Services Office, South Lanarkshire Crematorium, Sydes Brae, Blantyre

6.2 Completed funeral notices are not confirmed until all the relevant paperwork has been received by the cemeteries office and must reach the council no later than 48 hours before the intended time of the burial.

6.3 All burials must be authorised by the council prior to funeral arrangements being publicly announced.

6.4 No lair will be opened without the written consent of the lair holder

6.5 Burials will take place between 9am and 3.30pm on Monday to Friday and between 9am and 11.30am on a Saturday. Burials outwith these times can be arranged at the discretion of the council.

6.6 The procedures detailed above apply to both full burial and the burial of cremated remains.

6.7 The scattering of cremated remains is permitted in specific areas of the cemeteries; all scattering of remains must be approved by the council.

6.8 The Funeral Director is responsible for the provision of sufficient bearers to convey the coffin from the hearse to the graveside.

7. Memorialisation

7.1 A Lairholder shall be entitled to have a memorial erected but any monument shall not protrude in any way over that part of the lair to be opened for burial. The Lairholder is liable for the risks of any damage by or to any monument or memorial on the lair. Planting is permitted at the head of the lair but again shall not infringe in any way over that part of the lair to be opened for burial and shall only be permitted with the consent of the council. Railings, kerbstones, fences, decorative chips, chains or boxes are not permitted The council shall not be responsible for any loss or damage to memorials, vases or any other items placed on lairs.

7.2 All memorials and memorial foundations shall be constructed in accordance with such recommendations formulated by the National Association of Monumental Masons (NAMM) Code of Working Practice. A copy of the Code of Practice is available from the council’s Bereavement Services, NAMM Accredited Stonemasons or the NAMM web site at www.namm.org.uk

7.3 The Section and Lair Number must be cut plainly upon the left-hand side of the memorial at the expense of the person erecting the memorial.

7.4 No headstones or other monuments will be erected on common ground unless the written permission is granted by the council.

7.5 The lair holder will be permitted to place small memorial globes, vases, shells, displays of flowers, and so on, at the head of the lair. If these items are broken or damaged in any way and in the view of the council constitutes risk to Health and Safety then the items will be removed by the council and stored until such times as claimed by the lair holder.

7.6 The soil surrounding the grave must not be covered by any chips or stones (this will ensure the area can be maintained by cemetery staff). Lairs shall be laid out in turf and no fences, kerbs, rails, chains, boxes or other surrounds will be permitted.

7.7 The soil surrounding the grave must not be covered by any chips or stones (this will ensure the area can be maintained by cemetery staff). Lairs shall be laid out in turf and no fences, kerbs, rails, chains, boxes or other surrounds will be permitted

8. Preparation of lairs

8.1. Only the council or its employees or persons appointed by the council may prepare a lair burial. This includes the moving of headstones and other monuments.

8.2 Lair holders are prohibited from employing any person (other than in connection with any sculpture or masonry work) to perform any work.

8.3 Lairs shall be opened to accommodate three adult interments and up to six cremation caskets. However, the capacity of each lair is dependant on grounds conditions and cannot be guaranteed prior to excavation of the lair in question.

8.4 Once the capacity of each lair, respectively, has been reached, no more burials may take place in that lair.

9. Termination of burial rights

9.1 Where all burial rights in respect of all of the lairs within a cemetery have been sold and the lair holder has not exercised the right of burial for a period of more than forty years from the date of original purchase , then the council may terminate these rights of burial.

9.2 The council will not be able to terminate these burial rights until one year after:

(a) Sending a letter recorded delivery to the lair holder at his/her last known address advising of their intention to terminate these burial rights, and

(b) Placing adverts in two editions of a national newspaper and two local newspapers, asking that any lair holder come forward to the council.

9.3 If as a result of the termination of these burial rights any headstone or other monument will require to be removed, the council will remove the headstone or monument and store the headstone or monument.

10. Register of burials

10.1 The council will keep a register detailing the name, age, date of death and last residence of all persons buried in the cemetery and will also detail the lair in which the persons have been buried.

10.2 The register will be available by members of the public under the supervision of council staff, free of charge.

11. Charges and fees

11.1 All fees and charges to be paid by purchasers of lairs and lair holders in connection with burials will be detailed in a Table of Interment Fees, a copy of which is available for inspection at the office of the South Lanarkshire Crematorium, Sydes Brae, Blantyre.