The St Ann’s Bay Cemetery has been closed. The Ministry of Local Government is being notified and asked to officially close the facility.
Acting CEO of the St Ann Municipal Corporation (SAMC), Claudiah Carter told the general meeting on Thursday last that the cemetery had reached its capacity. She read a resolution seeking to have the Local Government Ministry formally officially close the cemetery.
The SAMC has been told over recent months that the cemetery was full, but as was stated at the meeting, burials are still being done there.
The resolution identified alternative cemeteries for public use, including Walkerswood and Steer Town that are nearest to St Ann’s Bay.
Councillor for St Ann’s Bay, Dalas Dickenson noted that people were still being buried at the cemetery. He said the proper official notice needed to be put up there and also that the cemetery property needed to be cleaned. He said proper arrangements had to be made at Walkerswood which was a large property but needed signage and a site manager; and should be fenced. He asked the SAMC also to take action in the case of Steer Town Cemetery where he said informal settlement had encroached on the cemetery. Councillor Dickenson called for the surveying of the property and the removal of encroachers on the cemetery lands.
Councillor Lambert Weir of Claremont also appealed for the clearing of the St Ann’s Bay Cemetery. He said it was already heavily bushed, with large trees and asked “Now that it is going to be closed is it going to be a forest?”
He warned that if closed and neglected, the St Ann’s Bay cemetery grounds would become a haven for criminals, the homeless and mentally ill.
