‘Green’ burial site with unmarked graves gets the go-ahead in York

The application was put forward by Osbaldwick Parish Council as St Thomas’s graveyard no longer takes burials and St James’s Church in nearby Murton is predicted to be full to capacity within three years.

Green funeral areas are environments not visually defined as burial grounds, with burials requiring a coffin or shroud locally made from natural, sustainable materials. Demarcating graves is forbidden, as is the tending of the graves.

The method usually produces more rapid decay rates as there is a relatively shallow depth of burial and embalming fluids are not used.

According to green funeral principles: “It is not the grave that commemorates the life lived, it is the entire site.”

The plot of land, off Murton Way, is owned by a blind family trust, with one of its owners willing to sell his share for the “socially responsible” proposal, according to planning documents.

The site would be managed as a wildflower meadow with an annual hay crop and possible sheep grazing, with woodland planting to the south.

Cllr Mark Warters, both a York and Osbaldwick councillor, said:  “There’s a clear path to potential ownership of this. What is needed first of all is planning approval.”

Further checks on the land are needed to ensure it can be used as a burial ground.

Cllr Warters added: “If we couldn’t use it as a green burial area, we will use it as community woodland. It’s about trying to secure a decent area of land, increase open access to it with the public right of way that runs through it, improve it all, and it’s there for generations to come.”

Green funerals are growing in popularity, but represent a small proportion of total burials, and it is estimated that no more than 10 per year will be needed by people living in the Osbaldwick and Murton parish areas.

The issue of water contamination was raised by some objectors to the proposal.

Council officers had recommended rejecting the application due to a tier two assessment not having been made, but Cllr Warters said this was not possible as they did not yet own the land.

Cllr John Galvin said: “A village graveyard is very precious. People like to be buried in the village they were brought up or lived in. The damage from incinerators and crematoria, I can tell you, can be far more serious than anything that can be produced here.”

Cllr Janet Looker added: “I think green funerals are the sort of thing we should be encouraging as we say we are trying to restrict emissions. I’m afraid crematoria, although they were thought to be the ‘end thing’ in efficiency, are actually quite contaminating.”