Cost of dying report backs Bryan Kerr’s criticisms

A LANARK minister has hailed a new report as vindicating his controversial attack in the Gazette against the increasing cost of dying in Clydesdale.

It was two years ago that we first published the criticisms by the Rev Bryan Kerr of Greyfriars Church of the annual price hikes in burial and associated charges being made by the cemeteries authority, South Lanarkshire Council.

He said: “I know personally families who have been put through genuine hardship and additional distress because of these totally over-the-top rises in lair and burial costs. South Lanarkshire’s rises are among the highest, if not THE, highest in Scotland.”

He cited figures showing that, in five years, the cost of a lair and burial in a council-run cemetery in Clydesdale and the rest of South Lanarkshire had rocketed from £422 to £883. At the time, South Lanarkshire Council said the rises were totally justified to meet rising cemetery service costs and claimed its charges were competitive with other local authorities.

However, a Church of Scotland report has now been issued apparently backing the Lanark minister’s claims.

For more on this, pick up a copy of this week’s Carluke and Lanark Gazette.