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Published on 28 October 2024
Council is seeking community feedback on the recent NSW Government’s Cemetery Reform that has impacted its ability to provide new burial opportunities within the Region’s active rural cemeteries.
At its Ordinary Meeting held 16 October 2024, Council resolved in part to temporarily suspend further reservations for burials at the Region’s six active rural cemeteries until it determined an outcome following public consultation.
Due to the age of the Region’s cemeteries, Mayor Cr Robert Taylor stated there are issues arising with the identification of some grave sites and he confirmed that community consultation will commence to understand the impact of potentially ceasing burials at some cemeteries.
“Council will commence consultation with village groups concerning the possible closure of select rural cemeteries within the Bathurst Region for future reservations.
“Unfortunately, there are many old grave sites that are not able to be identified. This creates real concerns on the ability of our operators to safely find sites that don’t already contain remains” he said.
The NSW Cemetery Reforms have resulted in a number of statutory and regulatory impositions that cemetery operators are now required to comply with, causing significant financial burden, which Council is not able to fund, or physically be able to administer. These reforms have resulted in the following issues for Council:
the significant concerns in respect to the ability to positively identify unused vacant burial plots in many of the Region’s rural cemeteries,
the significant costs that would be required to survey the existing cemetery sites and develop formal burial spaces, noting that it will be difficult to determine free unused space at many cemeteries, and
the State Government’s establishment of the new Cemetery regulatory requirements governing NSW cemetery operations, which Council does not have the physical or financial resources to enact or comply with.
The full report informing of the extent of the Cemetery reforms, the additional requirements that would be imposed on Council to legally operate the Region’s rural cemeteries, and the anticipated costs that Council does not have funding for that would need to be sourced, can be found on Council’s website at yoursay.bathurst.nsw.gov.au
Council is seeking comment from residents within the rural community on this important issue.
Submissions can be made at yoursay.bathurst.nsw.gov.au, or to The General Manager, Bathurst Regional Council, PMB 17, Bathurst NSW 2795, or council@bathurst.nsw.gov.au.
Submissions will be received up until 4pm Tuesday, 3 December 2024.