Haycombe has about eight years of burial space left. Councillors approved £800,000 on 26 October to study expanding it and going electric, not new gas cremators.

Haycombe Cemetery has only about eight years of burial space left, and some sections will fill sooner. Bath and North East Somerset Council gave the figure on Thursday as it set out plans to study the site’s long-term future.

Updated 6 November: no councillor called the decision in. The council’s decision register shows the call-in period for decision 2518 expired with no call-ins, so the £800,000 study took effect on 4 November.

Updated 30 October: the two cabinet members approved the £800,000 study on 26 October. The decision replaces last year’s plan to buy new cremators, and takes effect on 4 November unless it is called in by 3 November (decision 2518).

Haycombe is the only cremation and burial service in the whole of Bath and North East Somerset. It serves all faiths and people of no faith.

What the council is proposing

The council wants to move up to £800,000 out of a budget it set aside last year for new gas cremators. The money would pay for a wider feasibility study into how cremation and burial at Haycombe should work in future.

The council says the study would look at:

  • ways to stop burning gas in the cremation process, and making the most of an electric crematorium
  • whether a council-owned 40-acre site next to Haycombe could be used to expand cremation and burial capacity
  • other sources of income, such as wake facilities

Haycombe itself covers 35 acres. The proposal is a single member decision for two cabinet members, Councillor Manda Rigby and Councillor Sarah Warren. They approved it on 26 October, and it was published on 27 October (decision 2518).

The council will now appoint specialist advisers and carry out surveys. That leads to an outline business case, which councillors would then decide on. The council says the public will be consulted as part of that process.

Why this changes last year’s plan

In July 2025 the council approved £1.5 million to replace both cremators at Haycombe. The decision record said:

  • the two gas cremators, one small and one large, would reach their 20-year life expectancy in summer 2026
  • they would be replaced with two larger bariatric cremators using less gas
  • there has never been a maintenance contract, and about £98,000 a year was already being spent on repairs, billed call-out by call-out

This week’s release describes the existing gas cremators as having reached the end of their operational life, so they have not yet been replaced. The new proposal takes up to £800,000 of the £1.5 million for the study. The council says doing the study first is a “long-term preventative approach” that could extend the site, cut carbon from cremation and improve access.

The release does not say how long the current cremators can keep running while the study is done, or what would happen to the rest of the £1.5 million.

What it means for you

  • Nothing changes yet for funerals, cremations or burials at Haycombe. The study has to be approved, carried out and brought back to councillors first.
  • Eight years is the council’s estimate for the cemetery as a whole. Some sections will reach capacity sooner, so if you are planning ahead for a family grave, ask the bereavement services team about the section you have in mind.
  • The council says there will be public engagement on the options. We will report when it opens.