Cost of burials and cremations to rise

Counillors said the charges for burial and cremations would increase due to higher costs

Burials and cremations in a Lancashire borough and are set to become more expensive in the new year.

The charge for buying a grave plot in Blackburn with Darwen will increase by about 5% from £1,540 to £1,625, and the fee for a single burial will rise by 3% from £630 to £650.

Charges for sessions at the region's three leisure centres will also go up by between 50p and £1 from 1 January.

Councillor Jim Smith, who is in charge of environmental services at the council, said the rising charges were down to higher utilities costs.

'Death tax and killjoy tax'

Councillor Mustafa Desai, leader of the main opposition 4BwD group, warned that increasing burial costs could "provide a challenge for bereaved families during their most difficult of times".

"The take up of the leisure services could potentially decrease, which would subsequently impact the targets for increasing physical activity in the borough and thus impacting the health profile."

Councillor John Slater, who leads the council's Conservative group, described the rises as "a death tax and a killjoy tax".

"The council is putting more and more financial pressure on the people of this borough to bail out the incompetence of [Smith's] Labour bosses."

Environment boss Smith added: "Fees and charges income makes a valuable contribution to the running costs of cemeteries and crematoria services, enabling these important services to be sustained and provided."

He added that the council would continue to provide "public health funerals for people who have passed away in the borough and have no next of kin, or whose next of kin, relatives or friends are unable to make the necessary arrangements".