Families call for cemetery burial ban to be lifted

Residents are calling on a council to reopen a cemetery for burials more than a year after suspending them due to concerns about flooding.

North Hykeham Town Council ceased coffin burials at Mill Lane in January 2025, citing "safety concerns" and "Environment Agency requirements".

Ann Dillon, 73, said she was "absolutely heartbroken" about the prospect of not being buried alongside her late husband. She added: "They [the council] don't give us no answers, no matter what we do."

The Environment Agency said it had not told the council to cease burials. The council has been contacted for comment.

Dillon said: "I've been with him 52 years, so I need to be with him. I can't imagine being anywhere else."

She said communication with the council had been "dreadful".

"We're no wiser, no matter what meetings we go to," she added.

Lyndsey Wood, 50, from North Hykeham, said her 75-year-old mother had bought a double plot to be buried alongside her late husband.

"She wants to be buried with a person she's been with her whole life," she said.

"When someone passes away, it's a hard enough process.

"You don't need the worry of am I going to be buried where I want to be buried?"

Wood said she hoped the decision to cease burials would be overturned before her mother died.

"You don't know how long someone's got," she added. "You could go tomorrow."

Some residents received a letter from the town council in January 2025, in which they were told the decision to suspend burials had not been taken lightly.

The letter stated graves being prepared for full burials had "experienced flooding" and coffin burials "must cease due to changes in water tables and updated legislative requirements".

On its website, the town council states that it took the "unfortunate step due to safety concerns and to ensure compliance with Environment Agency requirements in relation to cemetery land management".

It was considering "how best to manage the use of the land to achieve its aim of providing such a facility to the residents of North Hykeham".

But a spokesperson from the Environment Agency said they had "not instructed the council to cease burials... nor have we stated that the site is non-compliant with our requirements".

The spokesperson said the agency had previously advised the council that the site did not "present a high pollution or contamination risk" and legislation relating to cemeteries, which came into effect in October 2023, did not apply to existing cemeteries such as Mill Lane.

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