It may help your committee's deliberations if I were to say that here in Sturminster Newton we have a large cemetery dating back to 1882. The Town Council is the Burial Authority and at the current rate of burials I would estimate that we have enough provision in allocated land until the year 2050 or perhaps longer.

  Our Cemetery is well managed and we try to balance income and expenditure as near as we are able. Although we would be unlikely to require National Lottery funds to support the provision at a local level, we do think that such funding may have a useful part to play in other areas, particularly in the purchase of new sites where they are needed.

Michael J Fagg

Town Clerk