Community members invited to provide feedback on proposed changes to Forbes Lawn Cemetery
Forbes Shire advisers have called for a change to the 20-year-old regulations that limited the lawn cemetery to flat bronze memorial plaques.
A proposal allowing monuments up to 60cm high and 90cm wide has been drafted, with community members now being asked for input.
Council staff said monuments up to 900mm wide, 325mm deep and up to 600mm high could be fitted to the current beams.
In a report to the February council meeting, they also advised that the proposal be put on public display as it will change the area for those who already have a loved one buried there.
Regarding operational matters, they also indicated that the change will have an impact on the digging of graves, as the backhoe used in the lawn cemetery would not have room to work if there were gravestones. raised.
The lawn graveyard is in three sections, with 23 of the 26 beams planned on the first two sections in place.
There are reserved plots in the 23 developed clusters, staff informed.
“A smaller shovel has a shorter depth that it can dig, requiring the final cut to be dug by hand,” the staff report to the board meeting said.
The council has the equipment to do this in the rest of the cemetery, but providing for the retrospective installation of monuments in the lawn cemetery would cost the council more.
The council will continue to donate bronze plaques, which are designed with the family, as part of the burial costs in the Lawn Cemetery.
Submissions to the proposed amendment may be sent to the Chief Executive by 5 p.m., Sunday, March 13. Email [email protected] or post to PO Box 333, Forbes.
It is expected that the matter will then be considered for final adoption at the March board meeting.
