Community services manager Brad Ward at Te Awamutu Cemetery. Photo / Waipā District Council
Community services manager Brad Ward at Te Awamutu Cemetery. Photo / Waipā District Council
Waipā District Council is looking at future proofing local cemeteries and has come up with draft plans for all 10 cemeteries in the district which are now open for feedback.
The plans are looking at making Waipā’s cemeteries be more prepared for the impacts of climate change, more accessible, and include more interment options.
The plans have become necessary after the council warned last year that a lot of its cemeteries would be full by 2048. The council then consulted the public and received 73 submissions which helped shape the draft plans.
Community services manager Brad Ward says his team received a lot of good, strong feedback around issues like accessibility, mana whenua aspirations, and practical issues like parking, seating and shade.
“People talked around planting and the potential for native planting to be developed on areas not suitable for interment... That has encouraged us to look at options that may allow us to develop peaceful and accessible places that are culturally sensitive and more sustainable,” Ward says.
The concept plans also include steps to include more diverse interment options like natural burials, ash walls, memorial gardens, or other eco-ash interments. Leamington Cemetery is the district’s only cemetery that allows for natural burials.
Over the past decade, there have been more burials in Waipā (64 per cent) than cremations (36 per cent), which Ward says is “unusually high”.
“We recognise this is a very sensitive issue, but an increase in cremations would delay cemeteries reaching capacity.”
A map of the locations of Waipa's 10 cemeteries. Graphic / Waipa District Council
The council is also open to exploring renewable interments and disposal options for water cremation or ashes from alkaline hydrolysis, should legislation change.
Waipā's 10 cemeteries in Hautapu, Kihikihi, Leamington, Ohaupo, Paterangi, Pirongia, Puahue, Pukeatua, Pukerimu and Te Awamutu cover 25.5 hectares of land. Of those, 6.1ha are not suitable for interments but may be suitable for other uses to enhance the area.
While Waipā has enough cemetery capacity until around 2048, Te Awamutu cemetery may reach capacity by 2028, and Hautapu and Paterangi cemeteries by 2033.
Leamington Cemetery, estimated to reach capacity between 2043 and 2048, is currently one of the main places for burials in Waipā, averaging 32 interments per year. It has 1.62ha suitable for future use which allows for an estimated additional 1944 body burials.
Te Awamutu Cemetery may reach capacity by 2028. Photo / Kate Durie
The draft plan suggests focusing on extending the capacity through expanding the natural burial area and improving ash interment options.
Further suggestions for the Leamington Cemetery include providing formed car parks, improving pedestrian access through the cemetery, and enhancing the facilities, for example by having a public toilet, running water, and seating with shade.
The concept plans are expected to be finalised in May or June for final approval from the council. For more information visit the Waipā District Council website.
