Impacts Of A Disused Burial Ground On Development

Often in Central London, development is to be carried out in the vicinity of a disused burial ground. A recent example of this involved minor works and the location of a temporary building on top of a disused Church of England burial ground, assumed to be consecrated land. The site, therefore, was subject to Ecclesiastical Law as well as the laws of England. Notwithstanding that the works proposed in this case were most unlikely to disturb human remains, the grant of planning permission and listed building consent did not deal with the legal issues associated with development above a disused burial ground arising under both English legislation and Ecclesiastical Law.

This post discusses the issues that need to be taken into consideration when development affects a disused burial ground to which Ecclesiastical Law applies. For the purposes of this blog, “Ecclesiastical Law” is the law applying to the Church of England. Accordingly, this post does not deal with burial grounds which are associated with other religions.

English Law: a blanket prohibition

Section 3 of the Disused Burial Grounds Act 1884 prohibits the erection of a building (non-exclusively defined to include any temporary or movable building) over a disused burial ground other than for certain specified spiritual reasons. This is a blanket ban, which covers consecrated as well as un-consecrated, land...