I have been asked to raise two points regarding cemetery funding.

  1.  Our District Council, Mendip, allots the WBJC a discretionary grant which, we are told, can be stopped at any time without notice. The District Council states it has no statutory obligation to provide burial service in its' area except for members of the public unable to pay for a funeral.

  2.  The Wells cemetery, managed by the WBJC, is a publicly owned cemetery and subject to the non-domestic rates levied by Mendip District Council the Committee is then allotted a grant by Mendip District Council to pay it. The Committee appealed against the Valuation Officer's decision on 7 August 1997 as, in the opinion of the Committee, the cemetery has no rental value. After all, the existing cemetery will be full by 2007 or 2008, it is publicly owned, how can it have a rentable value?

R Parratt

Clerk and Registrar

December 2000