Burial plot charges rising by 54%

The cost of buying a burial plot in Wolverhampton has increased by more than 54 per cent in the past year, a report revealed today.

City residents who want to reserve a plot on a 75-year lease now have to shell out more than £1,400. Last year buying a grave - known as acquiring the exclusive right of burial - cost £932.

Wolverhampton City Council spokesman Gurdip Thandi said: "As well as providing for the upkeep of the city's seven cemeteries, money collected from these fees is also used to continue to enhance the wider service, such as the major modernisation programme at Bushbury Crematorium including the future extension of the cemetery grounds."

New rules are also due to come in that will see people from outside Wolverhampton paying less than before to be buried in the city.

At present non-residents have to pay three times the exclusive right of burial, which is £1,443, and three times the usual interment fee of £800.

This means the total cost of burial for a person from outside the city was £6,729.

But under new rules which could come into force soon, non-Wolverhampton residents would pay the single interment fee of £800.

A report to go before Wolverhampton City Council cabinet branded the triple charge "unduly excessive and out of proportion to the service provided."

Earlier this year, the Express & Star revealed mourners across the Black Country and Staffordshire were paying more to bury their loved ones.

Councils in Wolverhampton, Dudley, Walsall, Sandwell and Cannock raised their fees by up to six per cent in April.

Interment fees for a full grave rose from £762 last.

They said the increased fees were necessary to allow them to carry out a £3 million investment programme.

In Dudley, fees rose from £495 to £525, from £806 to £826 in Walsall and from £226 to £323 in Cannock.