Graveyards should be 'for the living', says bishop

The Bishop of Norwich, the Right Reverend Graham Usher, is calling for spaces in graveyards that allow nature and wildlife to "thrive"

A bishop has called for graveyards to be "places for the living, not just the dead".

The Bishop of Norwich, the Right Reverend Graham Usher, said they needed to strike the right balance between being tidy while having areas that allowed nature and wildlife to thrive.

He was speaking ahead of a meeting of the General Synod of the Church of England at which its biodiversity agenda will be discussed.

"We want to play our part in restoring the biodiversity that has tragically been lost," he said.

Bishop Usher, the Church of England's lead Bishop for the Environment, called for "careful management" of churchyards.

"There are around 17,500 acres of churchyards in England – that’s around twice the size of a city like Oxford," he said.

"I want them to be places for the living as well as the dead."

The Church's land and nature motion aims to give biodiversity "equal consideration with net zero carbon" as an urgent response to the "ecological crisis".

Dioceses will be encouraged to develop their own land "action plan".

In an interview on the Radio 4 Today programme, Bishop Usher said: "People gain a huge amount of solace from being around nature... I think [nature] helps people in their time of grief and sadness, and brings joy.

"We are looking across all of our landholdings to see how we can farm well, grow trees well also enhance the biodiversity across a whole range of habitats."

Bishop Usher said he was optimistic the motion would be accepted at the synod later this month with a "resounding yes".