Residents of Wolverhampton have criticised what is being called a “fat tax” on burial plots after Danescourt cemetery in Tettenhall imposed a premium on wider graves. Families whose loved ones need a 6ft-wide plot will be charged an extra 20% compared with a standard 5ft grave.
Wolverhampton council said the price premium was in response to an increase in obesity levels in the city, where a third of people are obese, compared with the national average of just over a quarter. The council noted it had contacted 25 funeral directors before introducing the measure, with only one objecting.
Funeral director Ross Hickton told the BBC the charge was “not really acceptable or fair”, as people had paid council tax all their lives. Matthew Crawley of the Institute of Cemetery and Crematorium Management said the charge seemed reasonable given finite space and safety equipment needed for digging larger graves.
The council said the costs reflected “the increased costs incurred in providing [wider graves], including disposing of the additional soil”, and noted that other councils such as Birmingham and Walsall charge higher fees for wider plots. A survey found a quarter of local authorities charge extra for wider burial plots.
Concerns were raised about couples who wished to be buried together but where one required a larger grave. The council said families could still place larger coffins at the end of existing rows at no extra cost where space allowed, but otherwise might need to bury the larger partner elsewhere, purchase a second grave, or exhume the first partner to enable joint burial.
