The hunt for a cemetery big enough to last 100 years

Richmond Cemetery in Tasman only has capacity left for 10 years. Photo: Waimea Weekly

A joint cemetery to serve both Nelson and Tasman communities is looking increasingly likely as burial space in the region continues to shrink.

On Thursday, Tasman District Council formally agreed to pursue a joint facility with Nelson City Council, provided their neighbouring council also agreed.

Richmond Cemetery in Tasman was expected to only have capacity for the next 10 years, while Nelson's Marsden Cemetery was estimated to have 15-20 years of space left.

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The lead-in time for a new cemetery could take four to seven years.

The joint cemetery is hoped to have capacity for 100 years, or for about 16,000 burials, and so the councils would need to secure land that has an area of about 22 hectares, but finding suitable land of that size could prove difficult.

A council working group with iwi membership outlined several different factors to consider for the site, including groundwater depth, distance from water courses, suitable ground conditions, safe from sea level rise, slope of site, and transport accessibility.

The distance between central Nelson and central Richmond would also be considered, while trying to avoid highly productive land or land identified for housing or business growth.

A preliminary analysis of the region determined there were no appropriate sites in Nelson within 40km of the city's centre and so the cemetery would likely be located in Tasman.

A joint cemetery would align burial fees across the region. Currently, Nelsonians pay more to be buried and interred. Photo: Max Frethey. Photo: Max Frethey

However, there were also a "limited" number of appropriate sites in Tasman, with the current possibilities looking like either Appleby or Redwood Valley.

The joint approach was favoured to create efficiencies of scale and reduce the costs associated for each council rather than each council establishing their own smaller cemeteries.

Burial and plot fees would also be aligned between the two districts, where Nelsonians currently pay more to be buried and interred than Tasman residents.

While supportive of a joint approach to the cemetery, Tasman Mayor Tim King was not sure whether the region needed to provide capacity for the next 100 years.

"The way things change, how fast things change - I know the one thing that doesn't change is people dying, that is fairly consistent - … but I think solutions overtime may appear."

Ensuring a long-term supply would delay additional and costlier land purchases in the future when there was less land available, council officers highlighted.

The councils could also modify the scope of the cemetery if the 100-year approach proved unfeasible or difficult.

The cemetery's governance would also be familiar to each council, as they already jointly cooperate in a range of areas including the port and airport, the Saxton Field sportsground complex, future development, and transport.

After discussing a business case for the joint cemetery, Tasman's elected members received a report, a land acquisition proposal for the cemetery in confidential session.

If the councils are unable to purchase a suitable site, they are able to acquire the land through the Public Works Act.

Nelson City Council will consider agreeing to the joint cemetery proposal in the coming weeks.

Local Democracy Reporting is local body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ On Air.