The Cemetery Concept Plans is a project to develop concept plans for Waipā’s 10 public cemeteries to respond to growth pressures, a current high standard burial to ash interment ratio and changing adjoining land uses.

The plan will address issues such as insufficient seating, shade, cultural infrastructure, accessible paths and toilets, access/egress safety issues, maintenance challenges and areas that are unsuitable for standard burials.

These plans will guide Council’s development of the cemeteries for at least the next 20 years.

Yes you can provide your feedback on the plans via our online survey or by picking one up from a Council office or library. The feedback period is open from 27 February 2023 to 24 March 2023.

• Hautapu
• Kihikihi
• Leamington
• Ōhaupō
• Paterangi
• Pirongia
• Puahue
• Puketua
• Pukerimu
• Te Awamutu

The Cemetery Concept Plans will help to respond to growth pressures, a current high standard burial to ash interment ratio and changing adjoining land uses.

The plan will address issues such as insufficient seating, shade, cultural infrastructure, accessible paths and toilets, access/egress safety issues, maintenance challenges and areas that are unsuitable for standard burials.

The two rounds of consultation will help us to develop cemeteries to meet the communities needs.

These plans will guide Council’s development of the cemeteries for at least the next 20 years.

It will in part. The concept plans have been developed to extend the capacity of each cemetery through careful design and improving the ash interment options. Hautapu, Te Awamutu and Paterangi cemeteries are still however likely to reach capacity for body burials within the next 10-15 years.

Cemetery capacity issues will be a separate project to this plan and Council intends to explore the options to address the capacity issues at these cemeteries.

The options currently available within Waipā’s cemetery network include:

• Headstone burial area with a headstone grave and interment of the deceased’ body and/or ashes. A lawn burial plot can hold up to two bodies and up to four ash interments. These require relatively flat land and can only be achieved on slopes up to 1 in 6 gradient with only minor earthworks and retaining structures. The berms are 700cm wide with a 2.7m gap between berms.
• Lawn ash interment with a plaque on a concrete strip and interment of ashes in front of the strip. This option can cater for up to two sets of ashes per plot.
• Memorial gardens/ gardens of remembrance with a plaque on a low wall or concrete strip around the garden and interment of ashes in front of the wall or strip.
• Natural burials with a discrete marker and the ability for a tree to be planted in lieu of a headstone or plaque. Embalming of the interred is not permitted and the casket or shroud must be of a biodegradable material.

Future provision of a greater range of options across the cemetery network will help meet the communities’ needs and better utilise the remaining cemetery land.

Options may include:

• Natural burials at other cemeteries.
• Increasing ash interments within lawn grave plots.
• Walls of remembrance or niche walls where ashes are placed within the wall and covered with a plaque. These can range in size and style but are a very e‑cient use of space. It is important that this feature is supported with landscaping and seating.
• Lawn areas with mass ash interments and names on a concrete beam on the edge of a lawn area.
• Ash interments within pre-prepared soil pods (or other similar eco ash interment) and placed in designated native restoration area
• Memorial walls where names are placed on the wall (ashes interred or scattered elsewhere in cemetery or remain with family).

The first round of consultation was a survey that was open from 13 June – 8 July 2022, we had 73 people provide feedback. This consultation helped develop the draft concept plans.

The feedback was reviewed and the draft concept plan was created, we are now going back out for public consultation on the draft concept plan from 27 February 2023 to 24 March 2023.

The finalised concept plan will go to Service Delivery committee for approval in mid-2023.

The following matters are out of scope for this project:

• private cemetery and urupādevelopment and management,
• public cemetery maintenance, and
• cemetery acquisition and
• divestment assessments.