Auckland City running out of room in the last resting places

Cemeteries need more space for graves. Picture / Martin Sykes

Space is running out in Auckland's cemeteries.

Two privately-owned burial grounds are among those feeling the pinch.

The general manager of Purewa Cemetery in Meadowbank, Clifton Thomson, says that at the present rate of interments, the gates will have to close in 15 to 20 years.

An expansion to take in part of the adjacent Tahapa Reserve is being frustrated by the Auckland City Council, says Mr Thomson.

Applications to extend into the reserve began in 1992, but the trust board has met with little success.

The cemetery is owned and run by the Purewa Cemetery Trust Board on land donated by the Anglican Church.

Mangere Lawn Cemetery in Manukau City is in much the same position.

The present area of 12.14ha, owned by the Mangere Lawn Cemetery Trust, is likely to be full in about eight years.

The trust has extra land, but manager Graeme Cummins says it will need council help with rezoning and approval of resource consents.

Perhaps the most crowded burial site is Waikaraka Park Cemetery on the shores of the Manukau Harbour.

Its 9.54ha will be full by 2010. It has room to expand east towards the refuse station, and the Auckland City Council is considering developing this area next year, but it will provide only another 1000 plots.

Other council-owned cemeteries have more room.

Waikumete, administered by Waitakere City Council, is opening new areas on its present site.

North Shore Memorial Park in Schnapper Rock Rd is one of the newest in the region, and is expected to last up to 100 years at present rates of interment.

Manukau Memorial Gardens in South Auckland, opened in 1932 as the Papatoetoe Cemetery, has at least another 30 years and extra land provided by Manukau City Council.

Purewa was opened in 1889 to give Aucklanders a facility closer than Waikumete, then a train ride away.

Waikumete opened in 1886 and is the largest cemetery in New Zealand. Waikaraka Park opened its gates in 1890, the same year as Mangere Lawn Cemetery.