Consultation on Future Cemetery Provision and Henley Road Allotments

Although most deaths result in cremation, 1 in 5 Reading residents are buried in an existing family grave or a new grave. The Council’s Bereavement Services provides new graves for burial at Henley Road Cemetery and around 165 new graves are used each year. The cemetery will be full within the next six years, after which there would be no more ‘new’ graves available for purchase. Families with existing graves will still be able to use them.  

The Council recognises the value and importance of new graves, particularly to those who do not wish to be cremated for personal, cultural, or religious reasons, and although it does not have a legal duty to provide more burial space, seeks to maintain provision.

Attempts to find land for a new cemetery have not been successful and the Council’s preferred option is to use the Henley Road allotment site, which is reserve cemetery ground. We estimate that this would extend provision of new graves until around 2044. The other option is to stop providing new graves once we run out of space, which we expect to happen around 2030.  

We therefore seek your views on the options available to the Council.

The findings will be reported to Policy Committee early in 2025 when the decision on future burial provision will be made.

The closing date for responses is December 6th.