Policy information sourced from the Reigate & Banstead Local Plan - Development Management Plan

CEM1 - Cemetery and crematorium provision

  1. The Council will support applications for cemeteries and crematoriums where proposals meet the following criteria:
    • The site should have access from roads, should be located near to transport nodes and should provide sufficient on-site car parking, designed to be visually discrete, to ensure that peak parking demand can be met on the site.
    • Proposals providing burial and/or cremation plots, should not be situated within a Groundwater Source Protection Zone 1, within a certain distance from specific water sources as set out in national policy, or in areas where there is known evidence of high water tables that would affect the depths required for burial and/or cremation plots.
    • Where a site is known to be contaminated, or where there is a reasonable possibility of contamination, appropriate investigation, and where necessary mitigation and/or remediation will be required.
    • The proposed development would not have an unacceptable adverse impact on biodiversity, or geological assets.
    • The proposal would not have an adverse visual impact on the landscape character of the area.
    • The proposal would not have a harmful impact on the amenities of neighbouring occupiers, by reason of noise, pollution, privacy, and visual obtrusiveness.
  2. Within the Green Belt proposals for change of use to cemeteries or crematoriums will only be supported if very special circumstances are demonstrated, and appropriate facilities are kept to a minimum to limit the impact on the Green Belt. Justification of very special circumstances should include as a minimum, the following:
    • a robust demonstration of need for the facility; and
    • demonstration that there are no alternative suitable sites outside of the Green Belt.
  3. Proposals for crematoriums will be expected to meet the requirements of the Cremation Act 1902 (Section 5), with regards to the siting of the crematorium.

For more information please see the Reigate & Banstead Development Management Plan