Technical Notes 2024, Issue 118 - Removal of pre-purchase of lairs High Park Cemetery, Lennoxtown

1. The purpose of this Technical Note is to report the cessation of pre-purchase of lairs at High Park Cemetery, in order to provide a consistent approach to the sale of lairs throughout all East Dunbartonshire Council cemeteries.  The removal of pre-purchase would also apply to all proposed cemetery sites in development.

2. High Park Cemetery is located within the grounds of High Park in Lennoxtown, nestled at the base of the Campsie Hills.  The cemetery represents the newest burial site within East Dunbartonshire having opened in 2013.  As a result of diminishing capacity of lairs in older cemetery sites such as Cadder and Langfaulds, the Council removed the ability to pre-purchase lairs in 2021 to ensure the life cycle of the aforementioned cemeteries could be increased.  Similarly, pre-purchase was removed from Baldernock Cemetery in 2014 and from Old Aisle Cemetery pre-2007.  High Park is the only Cemetery that current permits the pre-purchase of lairs.  Following the cessation of pre-purchase at Cadder and Langfaulds, the Burial Service has noted the number of lairs sold without the need for immediate interment has been high and this has resulted in the available space of lairs with pre-made foundation strips quickly being exhausted.

3. High Park has experienced a modest proportion of sales on a pre-purchase basis when compared to the number of sales for immediate interment (approximately 50% from FY21/22 – 23/24 inclusive). Table 1 lists the number of sales sold either on the basis of immediate interment or pre-purchase since April 2019, with a significant increase noted from FY 21/22.  At present 18 lairs with existing founds remain. 

The Streetscene Service is currently procuring the installation of additional foundation strips to provide more capacity with the site in 2024/2025.

Table 1: Sale of lairs at High Park Cemetery since Fiscal Year 2019/2020

4. By removing the pre-purchase of lair sales at High Park, this will bring lair sales in line with all other active East Dunbartonshire Council Cemetery sites. 

5. The Service is currently looking to develop additional cemetery space at Langfaulds and Cadder, and construction of the sites is proposed in 2025/2026.  No other sites have been proposed for cemetery development and therefore in order to lengthen the expected life span of all Cemeteries for the long term and to ensure capacity for future generations, all cemetery lairs are to be sold on the basis of immediate interment only given the finite land available for burial. 

6. Additional advantages of the removal of pre-purchase of lairs would bring greater operational control in relation to the setting out of and preparation of lairs, which is vital when dealing with unforeseen ground conditions such as grave collapse or difficult terrain for digging.  In terms of contingency planning, the cessation of pre-purchase will also provide robustness for the Burial Authority should there be an unexpected demand for burial space.