Public Health

Garden Burials

There is no general prohibition on the burial of human remains within the boundary of a persons owned property, however, please note the points below  

• No planning or other consent would be required from this Authority but the manner of the burial should not cause a statutory or other nuisance nor possible pollution of a watercourse. Therefore it is recommended that the Environment Agency should be consulted. They may be contacted on 0300 065 3000

• It is also recommended that you check to ensure that there is no restriction covenant on the property prohibiting the burial of deceased persons. It is an offence to bury a body before obtaining a death certificate and before an inquest is held, if one is necessary, and Home Office guidelines regarding a proper burial should be followed

• The Registrar of Births, Deaths and Marriages must be notified of the place of burials. Such burials are not registered on the Local Land Charges Register, but it might be possible to set up an arrangement with the Registrar whereby he informs the Local Land Charges staff if any case where a body is buried outside a regularised graveyard or cemetery so that ‘Information Only’ entry can be made in the register. There is however no duty to do this.

• Any future purchaser of your property could remove any body and any tomb stone if a licence were obtained from the Secretary of State.