THE thorny issue of what is and isn’t allowed on graves at the parish council cemetery in Studley is inching towards a conclusion – although it will cost more than £1,500 to get a definitive and democratic answer.
That’s the price tag – £1,547.17 in total – for posting out a yes or no question to every household in the village together with a 12 page A5 booklet listing the 57 burial ground rules.
At stake is the issue of whether solar lights should be permitted on the plots of loved ones, a case championed by one group of councillors or whether lighting up the cemetery is inappropriate and would create an eyesore.
However there was broad agreement and a noticeable easing of tension as the council united to hammer out the details of the question to be put to parishioners over the issue – namely “Do you agree with the rules governing the burial ground proposed by Studley parish council?” together with a box for any further suggestions.
It was then on to dealing with the cost of the exercise, councillors electing on a best value basis to do the printing in-house and using Stratford district council to mail out the questions and the burial ground rulebook and then collate the answers, the cost working out at 57p per household.
Councillor Sue Redman, who had headed the parish’s burial rules committee said: “I want to see in there what the main changes are and the sticking points and say a full copy of the rules is here and do you agree with them.”
