Incomplete cemetery at Tomlinsons forces Cabinet to direct burials to two other sites; St. George MP promises pushback

Two graveyards have been chosen to receive the country’s dead,
as capacity at the St. John’s Public Cemetery and the Valley
Community Cemetery has maxed out. 

The Cabinet has taken a decision that burials should be shifted to
the Lamberts Cemetery in New Winthorpes and Grants Cemetery
in Willikies, effective immediately. 

However, during “The People’s Parliament” on Thursday night,
January 18, the St. George MP, Algernon Watts, said that Lamberts
was not Crown land – but a gift to that community – and there will
be pushback from the residents.

It appears that the Cabinet’s promise to urgently commission the
new public cemetery at Tomlinsons is turning out to be a lie. 

At its meeting on September 27, 2023, the Executive had said this
commissioning was absolutely necessary, due to the capacity
issue at the other graveyards, and that the first burial was likely
to take place at Tomlinsons in a few weeks.

It was late that month that the Ministry of Works commenced
fencing at the site. Then, in November 2023, the Executive said
that a precise date to begin burials could not be given, as the
complete fencing of the acreage must take place first.

It was also noted that roads must be constructed within the
grounds, burial plots were to be demarcated, and buildings
erected.

However, REAL News has since learned that soil testing at the
location has not been completed and is expected to be done in
February.

It is alleged that health officials have been warned that burials at
the Sir Sydney Walling Highway site could be disastrous, as the
area is prone to flooding and the soil becomes waterlogged.

The Government promised a grand, modern, state-of-the-art
facility, transforming and designing the grounds to come in line
with other modern societies, to include the construction of a
crematorium.

With an overcrowded city cemetery, burials commenced at Valley
Church over three years ago, during the COVID-19 pandemic.

However, the country site is full, with the dead now being interred
on the road inside the graveyard. REAL News correspondent
George Wehner recently reported that only 20 to 40 feet of space
remains from the gate.