Camberwell Cemetery
Pic: Friends from Camberwell Cemeteries
A furious row has erupted in Camberwell over Southwark council’s project to make more space for new burial land by exhuming existing remains to allow other burials to take place on top.
Local residents started a campaign called “Friends of Camberwell Cemeteries” where they launched a petition to stop Southwark Council’s plans. They are also concerned about the destruction of woodland and the potential loss of open spaces as they consider they should be turned into nature reserves. Local residents see the woods as being the lungs of London and the graves as part of their history and heritage.
With the petition Friends of Camberwell proclaim they: “Want the Camberwell Cemeteries saved and declared Local Nature Reserves, as Nunhead, Highgate, and Tower Hamlets Cemeteries now are, with the graves and monuments protected with respect for the dead, and woods for the living.”
The petition up to this date counts with 11, 577 signatures out of their 15,000 signatures goal.
The Councils project has been under consideration for some time as a mean of addressing the scarcity of burial ground left. However local campaigners say the destruction of nearly 12 acres of woodland, memorials and headstones would be “a desecration of graves and nature”.
The Friends of Camberwell Cemeteries argue that the council “are not finding ‘new’ burial land. They are burying on top of the dead. And soon they will be digging up the dead. These actions are unacceptable for many, if not most, of the people who want burial. They could purchase new land outside the borough and stop this devastation.”
Southwark responded to the criticism via their official site where they defended the plan arguing it has the permission of the Church of England. They also state that even though some trees are being removed they are trying to keep the number to a minimum and that in relation to the re-use of burial spaces: “the council may consider providing burial space sustainably through rotating cemetery areas available for re-use.”
The House of Commons have put out a briefing on reuse of graves in which it states what councils have the right to do. In which they say that London burial authorities have the power to disturb graves that are older than 75 years for the purpose of allowing further burials to take place. It also said that disturbance of remains in churchyards and other consecrated grounds is allowed only with the approval of the Church of England.
In relation to the on-going demand of buying more burial land, Southwark council responded saying that it would be unfair to expect residents to travel outside the borough to visit the graves of their loved ones.
