Green burial site gets green light
By Dan Goater, Dorset Echo
farmers are set to turn a lush meadow into a green’ burial site. Peter and Jo Vassie have just gained planning permission from West Dorset District Council to convert agricultural land at Underhill farm, Corscombe.
Mrs Vassie says the 13-acre burial site will offer an alternative, environmentally-friendly option for people with or without religious beliefs.
She said: “Cremations, unfortunately, are very bad for the environment and this will be an alternative really.
“Plus a lot of people are not particularly religious these days and, therefore, are not left with much of a choice but to be cremated if they’re not going to have a church service.
“We will still offer the option for religiously-led ceremonies to take place at the site. Personally, I think what could be lovelier at a funeral than to have the burial at sunset in a meadow on a summer evening?”
advertisement
Mrs Vassie added that the coffins used at the site would be made from wicker or cardboard and would therefore be totally biodegradable.
She said individual burial sites, which have to be recorded by law, might be marked with electronic tags that could be detected by a handheld device or possibly with a carved section of tree that would also break down over time.
Mrs Vassie, a fan of folk singer John Denver, said the burial site may be called the Higher Ground Meadow - partly in reference to a Denver album entitled Higher Ground. She added: “There’s a little way for us to go yet and getting the planning permission was just the start.
“We have got a lot of trees to plant up there and we’ve missed the tree-planting part of the season now. We also have a long entrance road that needs to be put in with parking spaces.”
Colin Pook, of Whispering Heights planning and architectural services in Dorchester, told councillors the proposal for a green burial site was in itself, sustainable’ before it was granted permission.
Mrs Vassie said the site will probably not be ready until next year following the planting of trees and the construction of a driveway and parking spaces.