Hopes dashed for Fife’s first eco-cemetery as appeal rejected

An East Neuk funeral director wanted to create the green burial site on Elie Estate.

By Claire Warrender

February 21 2024, 3:43pm

The access road to the proposed Elie eco-cemetery was described as substandard. Image: Google Street View.

A bid to create Fife’s first eco-cemetery has been scuppered after an appeal hearing ruled it’s planned for the wrong place.

A Holyrood reporter acknowledged a green burial site in the East Neuk would provide a valuable service.

However, he said the development within a walled garden at Elie Estate would result in traffic and parking problems and negatively affect residents.

Four nuns are already buried on the site of the proposed Elie eco-cemetery. — Four nuns are already buried on the site of the proposed Fife eco-cemetery but the appeal was dismissed.

North east Fife councillors refused the application by Elie-based funeral director Alan Stephen in December.

And the Scottish Government official has now upheld that decision following an appeal.

In a notice issued on Tuesday, reporter Stephen Hall says: “I accept the proposed development would provide a valuable facility.

“But I am not satisfied there is an over-riding need for it to be located here.”

Fife eco-cemetery appeal ruling follows visitor number concerns

Mr Stephen wanted to create an alternative to conventional funerals.

He aimed to provide a peaceful area for the interment of coffins and ashes on land he already owns.

And his plan also included an area for quiet reflection.

The site of the planned Elie eco-cemetery where refusal was the subject of an appeal. Image Google Maps.

However, while he predicted no more than two burials per month, the reporter said there was no way of controlling numbers.

Funeral corteges would have to travel up a narrow access road with few passing places.

They would then enter a semi-private courtyard, which is home to five families and has little in the way of parking.

Plan would cause ‘noise, disturbance and loss of privacy’

Mr Hall said therefore: “The proposed use could potentially entail numerous visitors passing through the semi-domestic and semi-private courtyard on burial days.

“This would change the character of this space.

“And it could also damage the amenity of residents through additional noise and disturbance, and loss of privacy.”

The eco-cemetery application received 28 letters of objection, along with 35 letters of support.

And Mr Stephen’s agents say the committee report did not highlight the supportive comments, including from the council’s own bereavement service and other Fife funeral directors.

There are around 900 burials a year in Fife. However, there is little space remaining for new plots.

And a recent survey found there will be no cemetery capacity left within 80 years without action.