Notice is hereby given that representations have been made to His Majesty in Council by the Secretary of State for Justice that, subject to the exceptions listed below, burials should be discontinued in the following places of burial and that His Majesty in Council was pleased on 22nd May 2024 to order that such representations be taken into account by a Committee of the Privy Council on 3rd July 2024

1) St Mary Magdalene Churchyard, Hatfield Hyde, Welwyn Garden City, Hertfordshire;

2) Holy Trinity Churchyard, Freckleton, Lancashire;

3) St John the Baptist Churchyard, Donhead St Mary, Shaftesbury, Dorset.

The exceptions are that –

a) in the places numbered 1 and 2 above, in any existing earthen grave in the churchyard, the burial may be allowed of the body of any member of the family of the person or persons previously buried in that grave, but no part of the coffin containing the body shall be less than one metre below the level of the surface of the ground adjoining the grave; and

b) in the place numbered 1 above, in any grave space in which no interment has previously taken place, the burial may be allowed of any person for whom, or any member of the family for which that grave space has been reserved and appropriated, with the exclusive right of burial there, but no part of the coffin containing the body shall be less than one metre below the level of the surface of the ground adjoining the grave.