FOI Request - Cemeteries

Request 101002668323

My questions refer to cemeteries and graveyards owned/run/managed by the council. By 'burials' I refer to body burials rather than the burial of cremated remains:

1. How many grave plots were used for new burials (or bought/reserved for future burials) in council-run cemeteries in 2020, and how many were used in each of the years 2019, 2018, 2017 and 2016?

2. How many grave plots/burial spaces remain empty/available for burials/reservation across your council-run cemeteries?

3. Does your council have an estimate of when space across council-run/owned cemeteries will run out completely?

4. How many cemeteries and graveyards are run/owned by the council?

5. How many of these are at full capacity/closed to new burials and in what calendar year did they close to new burials?

6. Does your council have any land currently earmarked for new/overspill burial space, and what is the current use of that land?

Response 26.01.21

1. See following links to documents, records kept are by financial year, not calendar year.

Record of Interments 2016 - 2017

Record of Interments 2017 - 2018

Record of Interments 2018 - 2019

Record of Interments 2019 - 2020

2. 10717 Lairs available

3. 2069 if no new lair space was created by then

4. 67

5. 35 cemeteries have no new lair space, ashes can continue to be interred, no data available on year closed to new burials (this information is therefore exempt under Section 17 of the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 - Information Not Held).

6. Yes currently used for forestry, agriculture, grazing