Decision on cemetery's potential closure delayed

About 30 people a year have been laid to rest at Gayton Road Cemetery in King's Lynn

A decision on the future of one of Norfolk's biggest cemeteries has been delayed.

The closure of Gayton Road in King's Lynn was recommended to the borough council's cabinet but the authority's environment and community panel said alternative burial sites should be found first.

The facility has space for hundreds of new graves but changes to environmental rules to prevent groundwater contamination means it now cannot be used, and the 50 remaining plots are already reserved.

Funeral directors in the town said other council-owned cemeteries, in Hunstanton and Walpole St Andrews, were too far away.

Andrew Thornalley, who runs Thornalley Funeral Services in King's Lynn, said:

"We are concerned about what we are going to do. It's crucial for us in the local community to have a place to be buried.

"Our community includes all different faiths and for some faiths it is their belief that they should be buried."

Funeral director Andrew Thornalley said a local cemetery was essential for the town

The Borough Council of King's Lynn and West Norfolk is investigating new burial sites near the town but do not have a statutory obligation to provide one.

Deputy leader Simon Ring said it had been clear for some time the cemetery was going to need to shut, and called it a "very difficult situation".

"The Environment Agency provides us with the certification to bury people and without that certification we can't do it," he said.

He added plans to find and develop a new cemetery were likely to remain on hold until proposals to reorganise councils in Norfolk progress in 2026.

The environment and community panel is due to meet on 21 October where the issue will be discussed again.