Caithness cemetery volunteers praised at council meeting
VOLUNTEERS who have been maintaining Caithness burial grounds were praised at a Highland Council meeting.
The council is responsible for 268 burial grounds across the region and a report discussed at the communities and place committee highlighted that 33 of the sites have an estimated capacity of less than six years.
At the start of meeting, Councillor Raymond Bremner (Wick and East Caithness) gave a presentation to showcase the hard work done by groups of volunteers to look after local burial grounds – with the assistance from the council – and how this has had a "very positive impact" on communities.
The cemeteries that have benefited from the efforts of local volunteers include Wick, Keiss, Thrumster, Latheron and Canisbay.
Councillor Bremner said after the meeting: “It was a great and humbling opportunity for me and my colleague Councillor Willie Mackay to showcase the work of the cemetery volunteers over the past three years.
"Volunteers try to attend our cemeteries in east Caithness as often as possible and over a period of time the transformation has been unbelievable. We have to thank all the support that continues to be received."
Councillor Bremner continued by praising the volunteer contractors who donated of "tonnes of aggregate from a number of local companies" and the goodwill of many people who have given up their free time to "transform the resting places of our loved ones".

He said: "The work continues, but a lot of the back-breaking work has been completed and the simple maintenance makes it much easier for volunteers to complement the work of the council now. It has turned into a great collaboration between community and council.
"It was absolutely appropriate that the council recognised this at the highest level. So many members were very obviously impressed and the presentation, with discussion and debate, continued for well over an hour. The achievement of everyone has been a huge privilege to be a part of and it has been amazing watching our communities come together to transform these very special places.”
Following the presentation, discussions took place on how the council could support this volunteer-driven initiative and encourage other communities across the Highlands to follow their example.
The committee chairman, Councillor Allan Henderson (Caol and Mallaig), said: “We were all impressed with the presentation that highlighted the great collaborative community spirit there is in east Caithness for people to roll up their sleeves and take action.
"I congratulate everyone involved for their excellent work which I am sure they find rewarding. It is certainly something I would like to see rolled out to other communities, and we will be looking into how we can provide the necessary support.”
The report underlines some of the challenges with identifying and developing suitable land for extension to existing burial grounds. These include suitable land availability that meets geological and environmental requirements for cemeteries, the purchase and development costs and local planning considerations.
A new project has been established to address service risks relating to capacity issues and will be taking forward a detailed strategic review of the planning of the council’s cemeteries for the next 20 years.
The Bereavement Services Project involves the council’s surveyors, design team and legal team who will be engaging with communities to help identify suitable land, involve key stakeholders – including the Scottish Environment Protection Agency – and consider other options, including the development of woodland burial grounds and the closure of cemeteries to new interments where extensions are not feasible. Priority will be given to extensions at sites with the most pressing capacity issues.
Following discussions, the committee agreed that from next year an annual report will go to each area committee so members can monitor capacity at their local burial grounds and examine proposals for any extensions that come forward.
Members noted that a review into burial administration will be reported to the next meeting of the redesign board. They also noted that arrangements have been made to have an active inspection and repair regime in place for all memorials over a five-year rolling programme.