'Second-hand graves' consultation to start as cemeteries could be allowed to reuse burial plots

ITV News' Chris Choi reports on the controversial idea to reuse old burial plots

Cemeteries could be allowed to reuse old burial plots that are already occupied.

The idea is being described by some as selling second-hand graves.

It’s now being discussed as part of a wide-ranging review of burial laws - and it shows how economic pressures are affecting people even beyond the grave.

The idea of disturbing a grave may be something you never expected to hear discussed, but opening up existing burial plots and reusing them could become mainstream as cemeteries increasingly face shortages of space and money.

Technical guidance shows grave reuse with what is called the 'lift and deepen' method

ITV News has been told that consultations are about to start in England, Wales and Scotland. 

At the Highgate Cemetery in North London managers call it "grave renewal".

A special Act of Parliament for this cemetery allows it to reuse graves older than 75 years - and it plans to start this year.

The Chief Executive of Highgate Cemetery Trust showed us an area with around 50 graves deemed potentially suitable for reuse: "What we are proposing is to be looking at graves at least 75 years after the last interment to avoid the possibility that there will be people alive who will have actually known the person in the grave that's to be disturbed."

Technical guidance shows grave reuse with what's being called the "lift and deepen” method. 

Any existing remains in the grave are lifted out and the plot is deepened, with the original remains then reburied lower.

This leaves space for a new burial above. 

ITV News research shows that only three UK burial grounds reuse graves: New Southgate Cemetery, Brompton, and City of London Cemetery - all operating under specific legislation not currently available to most cemeteries.

We know of more than 1,900 individual plots affected by reuse.

Julie Rugg is on the Ministry of Justice burials committee and heads the Cemetery Research Group at the University of York, she told us: "We are talking about graves that are at least 75 years old and where the probability is there will be nothing left there at all - there will have been full decomposition."

One concern is whether people buying a grave would be told if it is second-hand.

"Absolutely they would be told," she says.

This new debate on the future of burials highlights how the pressures of population growth and economics affect us all, from cradle to grave.

Colin Fenn from the National Federation of Cemetery Friends believes that graves reuse could be a financial boost for burial grounds that are being neglected due to lack of funds,

"It means then that you can afford to run and maintain and cut the grass and to have these management policies that we all want to see - and people do like to see that graves are being visited, that it's not just a place that's been closed and fossilised."

There is an acknowledgment that some faith and cultural groups could find the concept more of a concern than others, which is why safeguards will be vital in any new burial rules. 

"It does seem challenging to think there is no rest in peace, but do you think rest in peace for all time?" questions Julie Rugg.

She says safeguards would mean no grave is reused within 75 years and public notices would be prominently displayed perhaps for years before any grave is disturbed. 

Plans would be scrapped if relatives or other interested parties object.

"There are some groups in our society where their theology means that disturbing the dead is really problematic... so we'd say let's make sure your needs are particularly understood," says Julie Rugg.

There are already clear signs that some will object to the reuse of graves in principle.

Lewis Schaffer is a cemetery campaigner who lives close to a cemetery that says it will consider grave reuse in the future.

"You don't dig up someone's grave who is told when their family buys the grave that they would have that grave forever - that's wrong," he said.

"He says the planned safeguards are not reassuring - "people believe in rest in peace forever."

There are economic considerations from cradle to grave - but for many the reforms now being proposed are a potentially upsetting change to how we feel about laying loved ones to rest. 

Anyone with views on burial reforms and grave reuse can email the Law Commission: dod@lawcommission.gov.uk

Want a quick and expert briefing on the biggest news stories? Listen to our latest podcasts to find out What You Need To Know.