Local Plans (Burial Space) Bill [HL]

Lord Brooke of Alverthorpe Excerpts

2nd reading
Friday 3rd July 2026 Lords Chamber

[Lord Brooke of Alverthorpe (Lab)]

My Lords, I too congratulate the noble Lord, Lord Mohammed of Tinsley, on coming so high in the ballot; I hope his luck continues in his dealings with the Government on the Bill. I am one of those who support his efforts. I, too, would have welcomed the presence of some bishops today, given the nature of the subject. The Church of England probably has the majority of the acreage of burial ground around the country.

My interest in this comes from the fact that I am in my 80s and, in a sense, I am in the waiting room. I have long expressed a desire to be buried in the churchyard of St Paul’s Church in Alverthorpe, in Yorkshire. It is the parish of my birth and family roots, but space is limited there. With the help of my friend, Phillip Collins, who has used genealogy, WikiTree and AI, we have managed to trace a whole range of my forebears there. We think that some of the graves in which they are buried are not full. So there is an opportunity—a green opportunity, I would say—for me to be buried in one of those graves.

I would like to add to the suggestion from the noble Lord, Lord Mohammed, that we should have an extra section at the end about the full use of existing cemeteries around the country. There are acres and acres of them. Given that we now have AI and other methods of genealogy, we can make a connection between graves and ancestors. Given what my noble friend Lord Stansgate has just said about someone being willing to pay £24,000 to find a burial ground, this is perhaps an amazing opportunity—certainly for the Church of England, and maybe the Roman Catholic Church and other faiths—to explore this and make a connection with individuals who would wish to be buried there if there is an opportunity to link with their forebears. They would probably be willing to pay for it.

Where have we got to? I wrote to the right reverend Prelate the Bishop of Leeds and he has given me some assistance. I asked him to raise this issue with the Church of England—I think it may have been buried somewhere. So I raised it myself with Marsha de Cordova, who is my MP in Wandsworth. She is also one of the Church Commissioners, and she had an open meeting for the Church of England for anyone to raise questions. I raised it there, and there seemed to be little disposition towards giving support. One response was, “This is all about money”. Of course, the Church of England is badly in need of money for the upkeep of its churches, and so is the Roman Catholic Church. I think I have stumbled on a business opportunity for churches of all faiths. We should be exploring the link between technology, the new way of exploring our genealogy, and linking up with people who may have an interest in finding a burial spot, given that there is such pressure on finding appropriate places. In addition, we will need new space. I support the noble Lord, Lord Mohammed, all the way with that.

I am wondering if my noble friend the Minister, who is at the end of a tiring week and does not want too much trouble from me, would be willing to explore this. I am not sure how we take this further forward. I have spoken to the Public Bill Office, which said that after we have had the debate and have seen how the Minister responds, we can then see whether we can table additional amendments—maybe a new clause about utilisation of existing burial grounds to their maximum extent. We could look at whether there is an opportunity there, as a green policy, particularly for those who own the churchyards, to raise additional money for the upkeep of their churches or the benefit of their local communities.

I am not causing trouble. It is an interesting area that I do not think has been explored. There are great opportunities; there are acres and acres of burial grounds around the country. That is all valuable land, and it has not been fully utilised. Before we start worrying, we need to extend but we can probably minimise the encroachment into other land if we use what we already have. I hope the Minister will give me a pointer on the direction I should go in, and I will then talk to the Public Bill Office and come back with some appropriate amendments, which I hope she might find acceptable.