Alnwick Town Council: Cemetery, neighbourhood plan and liaison meetings

From next April, burial rights for up to 100 years including the right to erect a headstone will cost £570, up from £515.

A burial at a depth of four feet will be £330, up from £300, while at a depth of five foot, it rises to £500 from £450.

Burial rights for cremated remains will cost £310 from next April, while the burial charge is £180. The current charges are £275 and £155 respectively.

Coun John Humphries, chairman of the council’s cemetery committee, underlined that Alnwick remains among the most competitive in the area.

Coun George Mavin added that free child burials, which are being discussed in Parliament at the moment, have already been introduced at Alnwick Cemetery.

Meanwhile, following the announcement of the revaluations of business rates which apply from 2017, the council made an application for Small Business Rate relief for Alnwick Cemetery.

The council met the criteria and this resulted in relief being awarded, which was backdated to April 1, 2010, and a refund of £17,005.84 has been received.

Of this, £2,662 relates to the current budget year and has been credited back to the cemetery budget.

At last Thursday night’s meeting of Alnwick Town Council, it was agreed that the remaining £14,343.84 is ring-fenced for future machinery replacements at the cemetery.

The council currently has a JCB mini digger and two tractors, one of which is currently budgeted for replacement.

The remaining money from the rate relief will now be held in reserve until other replacements are required.

For more, see alnwick-tc.gov.uk/alnwick-cemetery-2/• The referendum on the neighbourhood plan for Alnwick and Denwick is now likely to take place in February next year. Following the changes made after independent examination, another consultation was needed after a change in the law from October 1. This has started and the six-week consultation ends on Friday, January 13, 2017.

• Newton on the Moor and Swarland Parish Council has called for a rethink of the format of the liaison meetings between town and parish councils and the county council. Newton on the Moor has questioned the current groupings and would like Alnwick to be involved in its cluster as the main service centre – much like a district council, it was pointed out at Alnwick.