A bereaved woman is distraught that she wasn’t able to bury her brother in their hometown after being told there was no space.

Linda Burn, who was born in Bicester and has lived in the town all her life, told the Bicester Advertiser that her brother Geoffrey Hanks wanted to be buried in Bicester, alongside the rest of their family.

Mrs Burn instead had to bury her brother in Kidlington, and said she couldn’t bring herself to attend the committal because “he shouldn’t be there.”

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She said: “I went to church, spoke about my brother, read a poem on behalf of my partner. I followed the coffin out to the car, I saw my brother put into the car and then I just carried on walking.

“I didn’t attend the committal. I just couldn’t see Geoffrey being placed somewhere he shouldn’t be.

“He should be in Bicester where his mum, wife and stepson are buried. He could only be buried in Kidlington because he was at a care home there for three years, I don’t know where he would have gone otherwise.

“I was just hoping Geoffrey could hang on until we could maybe find a space in Bicester.”

Bicester Town Council, who run and maintain the Bicester Cemetery site between St. Edburg’s Church and Pingle Field, had admitted last year that burial space was running out.

Extensions to the site have been made several times, the last in 2021 when the Environment Agency said there would be no further expansions of the cemetery permitted.

The town council has been contacted for comment.

Mrs Burn, 57, and medically retired, said: “I just think it’s so wrong, everybody thinks so. The council knew they had run out of land, why has it got to the state where people in Bicester can’t be buried in Bicester.

“I’m cross this is still an ongoing issue. My brother was a well-loved and good person, he played rugby for Bicester Town in the 80s. He was always on the back pages of the Bicester Advertiser, yet he can’t be buried in his home town.”

A spokesperson for Cherwell District Council said: “We are very sorry to hear of this situation and offer our sincere condolences to the bereaved lady. The lack of burial space at Bicester is an ongoing issue which needs to be resolved as soon as possible.

“From a planning perspective, we have policies in our existing Local Plan in the interests of providing more burial space at Bicester and also to secure financial contributions from developers to help fund provision.

“Funds received can be made available to the respective town or parish council to support the provision of space, but land still needs to be acquired from landowners to provide the facilities.

“A development promoter has made a planning application for residential development to the north-west of Bicester (known as ‘Hawkwell Village’) which includes proposals for new burial space, albeit within Bucknell parish, and this application will be determined in due course."

The council summed up by saying Bicester Town Council or an adjoining parish council could make a separate planning application, but it would still require the landowner's agreement. 

 

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This story was written by Matthew Norman, he joined the team in 2022 as a Facebook community reporter.

Matthew covers Bicester and focuses on finding stories from diverse communities.

Get in touch with him by emailing: Matthew.norman@newsquest.co.uk

Follow him on Twitter: @OxMailMattN1