Sunday Times exposes how Richmond Council doesn't listen to residents, - again.

When a local issue that I care desperately about fills most of a page in the Sunday Times, as this did today, it gives renewed hope that finally the Council will be shamed into listening.  In brief, Richmond Council, in defiance of their own cemeteries scrutiny panel (CSP) and advice from the Institute of Cemetery and Crematoium Management (ICCM) are refusing to increase the capacity of the existing Shacklegate Lane cemetery by re-using graves older than 75 years.  The Law Commission report aslo recomended this.  Instead they are closing the adjacent 120 year old allotments to expand the cemetery footprint, even though they acknowledge this too will be full within 30 years.

According to the Sunday Times "to reuse a grave, the existing remains are exhumed, if any are left, the plot is dug deeper and the original remains are reburied at the bottom - a process known as "lift and deepen".  It is a common practice accross Europe".

Last week a petition signed by 1,700 local residents opposing the plan was submitted to the council.  

 

The Lib Dem run Council does not have a track record of listening to, then acting on,  resident's objections.

It appears that the Lib Dem council would rather ignore the outraged local residents and uproot 120 years of fruit and veg growing than do the admin involved in making the existing cemetery more efficient.  3000 people on the waiting list for a plot testify to the value locals place on the allotment.

As the Sunday Times writes:

"Jane Cowling, 53, lives next to the Teddington allotments and opposes the plans.  Her parents-in-law owned plots of land on the site for decades, she said, adding that it was a haven for wildlife and a shared community space.

'But it isn't really about us and what we want' she said. 'Once the allotment is gone, it's gone forever.  They shouldn't be prioritising the dead over the living.  It just seems crazy'."

I couldn't agree more.  Help us make the Council listen to those it taxes.