THE REGULATIONS in place at Thornbury Cemetery have received a much-needed overhaul following a meeting of Thornbury Town Council’s Playing Fields and Cemetery Committee.

Councillors in attendance voted to remove the rule which meant that people who had not lived in Thornbury for 28 days before their death were not entitled to the local’s rate for a plot and interment at Thornbury Cemetery.

The Gazette launched a campaign for the rules to be changed following the response to a story about Mr Shepherd who was charged the non-resident’s rate after having to sell his home to afford the costs of his Wickwar care home.

He died 42 days after selling his home and as a result was not entitled to receive the resident’s rate for his burial in Thornbury Cemetery.

His son-in-law brought the issue to our attention and following a story published in July a number of people had expressed their concern over the rules.

Now Thornbury Town Councillors have decided that by making use of the electoral role, anyone who has lived in Thornbury within the last three years will now be charged the fee for local residents.

Cllr Maggie Tyrrell, said: “The main thing that was being asked of us was that we change the 28 day rule and we have now done that, quite substantially.”

It was also decided by councillors that they would scrap their existing pre-purchase scheme for the cemetery as they had been left with plots that had been been reserved over 100 years ago and the council was now struggling to sell them.

The committee decided that any changes to the rates charged by the council for a plot and interment at Thornbury Cemetery would be looked at by the Finance Policy Committee who will look at the fees in conjunction with the budget.

It was also agreed that the cemetery's terms and conditions should be more easily accessible for members of the public.