Church and graveyard.

[Cribco]

I apologise if this is in the wrong thread but.....Our local church is ancient and typically english with an attached graveyard though no burials have taken place for the last fifty years. The graveyard has been left un cared for and unrepaired - and has become a meeting place for drug dealers and alcoholics. Some gravestones have been removed or disturbed and built over without authority. We have tried to establish who has responsibility for care of the graveyard but have had no luck and very soon it will become overgrown, filled with rubbish and low life. So who has the responsibility to get it sorted.

[des8]

Couldn't possibly say who has responsibility for maintenance without trawling through Church records,& Orders in Council.
Have you seen this; https://www.churchofengland.org/site...hurchyards.pdf

[Cribco]

Thank you, I did find that, quite heavy reading. The local council and the relevant Parochial Council deny responsibility - and to add to the problem a nature preservation organisation have just decreed that the site should be left to encourage wildlife. In the meantime the townsfolk are angry at the eyesore in the middle of town.

[echat11]

This is the sort of thing that could be 'batted around' for years. An idea would be as follows:

What's called for is direct action. Get a court order so that you / the community can act in the interests of the whole community and make decisions to revitalize the graveyard.

Form a 'community group' to take control over the graveyard and it's upkeep. Once it's in a 'good state' fenced and gated, it just needs to be maintained. Ask for donations, the community, the council, the church etc for donations.

The nature preservation organisation needs to be 'reminded' that it's a graveyard before it is anything else.

[des8]

So in the centre of your (English?) town you have what seems to be a disused (and possibly closed) graveyard attached to a (parish?) church (Anglican?) which is now overgrown and neglected. It has become a haunt for feral cats, urban foxes and drug dealers and users.

So write to the Chancellor of your diocese requesting a copy of the regulations appertaining to churchyards (and let him know why you are requesting it)

Basically Section 4(1)(ii)(c) of the Parochial Church Councils (Powers) Measure 1956 places responsibility for the maintenance of the churchyard on the parochial church council,
If the graveyard is closed by order in the council the PCC can pass responsibility over to the Parish Council or District Council. This is in accordance with The Local Government Act 1972 sec 215.

Basically you hold the Parochial Church Council liable for maintenance.
If they claim it is the local councils responsibility ask them for a copy of the order in council closing the cemetery, and confirmation (by way of copy of letter) that they passed responsibility to the local council.

I wish you luck, as you will find them adept at passing the buck.
The problem is that the PCC is a body corporate and so the members are never individually responsible.

[morenoco]

This is actually a very difficult task. It seems to me that it will be practically impossible to establish who is responsible for the care of the cemetery and this church on the territory of the cemetery. Maybe the local government should be responsible for this. It's really sad news like this. In this cemetery, someone's relatives lie, and people with low moral responsibility steal their monuments. It's terrible, actually. Maybe at least for the church, someone will be able to take responsibility and take care of him. I will talk about this in my church https://firstchurchlove.com; maybe we can come up with something.