A CHURCH has been criticised after elderly villagers were told they no longer had an automatic right to be buried next to their late spouses.

Harry Hind, former head of the Stamford Bridge Residents’ Committee, said St John the Baptist Church, in the village, was asking residents to apply for a plot in the graveyard before May 31, at a cost of £300.

He said he had been contacted by four villagers who had been promised plots next to their former partners, as long as 15 years ago, and they had no way of raising the £300.

“Over the years, when a person lost their wife or husband, they had been able to agree with the vicar that they should be able to have their plot next to their partner, free of charge,” he said.

“I feel it’s treating the oldest villagers awfully. Some of them have lived there all their lives.”

Mr Hind, 77, described the decision as “cruel” and said the elderly residents involved could not afford the £300 on their pensions.

But a spokeswoman for the Diocese of York said anyone who wanted to reserve a plot in any church had to do so through a faculty – a form of “planning application” relevant to church buildings and graveyards. She said: “If anybody in the past has been promised a burial plot without a faculty then that’s not legally binding. It’s not within the law of this country and we have to act within the law.”

The Rev Fran Wakefield, of St John the Baptist Church, said: “As far as we know, we have now contacted all the individuals concerned, and without exception, they have been extremely understanding and supportive of the situation.

“In doing this, we have followed Diocesan procedure and advice at all times.”