A.W. Lymn calls for rethink on burial space amid Paris model

A.W. Lymn has urged ministers and local authorities to consider new approaches to the UK’s shortage of burial space, citing a scheme in Paris that allocates reused grave plots through a public lottery. 

The family-run funeral business, which operates across Nottinghamshire, Derbyshire and Leicestershire, said the Paris model – though not directly transferable – shows how historic cemeteries can be brought back into use as pressures on land increase.

The French capital is offering people the chance to enter a lottery for plots in older cemeteries where grave leases have expired. Some sites require headstone repairs, with applicants expected to pay £3,500 for restoration works and a plot.

Forecasts suggest burial capacity in London could be exhausted within a decade. According to managing director Matthew Lymn Rose, ideas trialled in Paris could help shape future UK policy.

The call comes as plans for new cemeteries face delays and refusals, including an 8,500-plot proposal near Peterborough, while some existing sites – such as the cemetery in King’s Lynn – risk closure following changes to environmental rules.

Lymn Rose said: “There’s a strong case for exploring grave reuse in historic cemeteries. Paris has shown that with sensitivity and good planning, you can bring heritage burial sites back into use. We need smart, respectful solutions as it’s well documented the UK is running out of grave space.”

London boroughs can reclaim and resell plots after 75 years, including those originally sold in perpetuity but left partly unused. Councils can rotate headstones to allow new inscriptions and make use of deeper plots intended for multiple burials.

Outside London, graves are treated as family property and deeds issued at purchase can be lost over time. Many plots then remain unmaintained or underused, with no legal route to bring them back into circulation.

Lymn Rose added: “Victorian graves were often dug for four, six, or even eight people. Today, a grave for two or three is considered deep. There’s a huge opportunity to reuse these older graves, but the law outside London doesn’t make it easy, even when it’s clear no one has visited or maintained a plot for decades.

“The Paris scheme should be a wake-up call. We need to think ahead and develop national policies that allow for the respectful reuse of graves where appropriate.”