After extensive searches for a suitable new burial site, Oxford City Council is now pleased to announce that work is progressing to deliver a new public green space and tranquil burial meadow.
It will be on land that the Council ownes along Oxford Rd, en route to Horspath. The land is currently leased to a local farmer who uses it for growing crops. Working with stakeholders, the City Council plans to maximise benefits for recreation and biodiversity in the new meadow, offering additional community benefits to Oxford residents.
The new site is the culmination of an extensive search announced by the Council in 2019, due to the city running out of new burial space. The Council has already approved the legal reclamation of existing grave plots within the city to ensure existing burial space is maximised.
Comment
“The new meadow will be accessible by public transport and will offer a peaceful burial site in a natural landscape setting with links to walks in Shotover Woods. It will bring opportunities for improved burial provision for all residents, including faith and cultural groups in Oxford,
“Oxford Direct Services Limited do a fantastic job managing Oxford’s burials, providing a wide range of options for people to commemorate loved ones. This new site will enable options not currently available on existing sites, such as green burials, as well as space for new burial plots for many decades into the future.”
Councillor Chewe Munkonge, Cabinet Member for Leisure and Parks
“Oxford Interfaith Forum are very supportive of the provision of new burial space for Oxford. Burial is essential to the practising of many faiths.”
Oxford Interfaith Forum
Oxford has an ample supply of reusable grave plots that have provided a temporary solution, but space for new graves has been declining for some time and is set to run out sometime this year.
In order to make the best use of land the Council owns, space for graves is already managed carefully. The burial option in shortest supply is new burial plots. Space for new burial plots in existing cemeteries in Oxford will run out within the next year, which has led to the City Council working hard to bring forward space on a new site it owns. There is still burial space available in reclaimed plots.
For more information, visit the Oxford Burial Meadow webpage.
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