Bermagui Cemetery is one of four cemeteries with limited space. Photo: Bega Valley Shire Council.
Bega Valley residents will be temporarily blocked from reserving interments at local cemeteries as part of a push to ensure there’s enough capacity.
Under a new plan from Bega Valley Shire Council (BVSC), people will be asked to confirm if they still need a spot.
According to meeting documents, there is limited availability for conventional burials at Bega, Bermagui, Eden and Pambula cemeteries (out of the 14 the council manages).
They all have fewer than 100 available plots.
During a recent meeting, Mayor Russell Fitzpatrick said some of these reservations dated to the 1940s or 1950s, while others were the result of families requesting multiple plots so they could be buried together.
“As we move ahead, we need to know the size [of the area within] the current cemeteries that’s still actually available.
“Unless we go through the first part of it, trying to work that out, we’re going to have plots in our cemeteries that could be used that will never get touched because people have already passed away.”
During the discussion, councillor Mitchell Nadin asked whether it was a region-wide concern, and how demand could be managed in the short term.
“[Are] people booking them out so quickly that we think we’re going to get to zero over time?” he asked.
In response, a staff member said they had already identified that different sites had different capacity levels.
“We’re just running out of space at a number of these locations,” they said.
“It’s a softly, softly approach that is recommended. We’re looking to throw the net wide open through the media to try and get people to come forward.”
He also said there were issues with previous records (which could frustrate efforts to contact people), but also ruled out compulsory acquisition of plots.
The meeting papers also pointed to plots at the four cemeteries as being in high demand, with the pressure likely to increase over time.
“If council continues accepting reservations, it risks being unable to meet current burial demand at these cemeteries,” the document outlines.
“Ceasing reservations while reviewing existing reservations and progressing the internal expansion project will improve operational efficiency and support sustainable cemetery management in the short term.”
Mayor Fitzpatrick pointed to Eden Cemetery as facing a “critical point” where its future capacity needed to be evaluated.
“It’s only 31 in Eden, and it’s in a seaside location where there’s no room for expansion, so it’s more of a critical spot.”
A staff member told councillors that across the shire, about 110 burials occurred each year.
The vote means that Bega Council will carry out a six-month review to determine which of the reserved plots are still needed.
Under the plan, the original interment fee (which was $595 as of last year) will be refunded for anyone who formally relinquishes the interment right.
While the meeting papers estimate up to $20,000 in refunds could be necessary, it’s acknowledged this will depend on the number of cancelled reservations.
Council will also consider introducing an annual fee to keep a reservation, once booked, current.
But during the meeting, a staff member said that while this pause on reservations was only set to be temporary, a separate process could see it extended.
“The preference would be that this is a permanent thing, and that people are actually buying them as required … to make sure that you know we’re not left in a situation where you know somebody’s in need, a family is in need, and we don’t have the available space.
The meeting also heard that development of a coordinated cemetery masterplan was on the horizon, along with work related to cemetery expansions.
