Hi all

Many thanks to our wonderful signers, sharers, donators and social media defenders.

Please keep sharing and getting those signatures to keep Edinburgh City Council's 43 cemetries for all Edinburgh citizens - cemetries 4 all.

If you want to get in touch with us, please email: 
cemeteries4all@yahoo.com

We continue to work away in the background and have a few different little "projects" going on to try and help with different aspects of this campaign/petition. 

We have also had some very helpful correspondence from a variety of different sources.

As stated before, our petition is aimed at the council petition for "No dogs" rule (with excemptions) not the Scottish Government one. However, should the Scottish Government get involved that will affect us/our petition so we will ask questions about it.

Today we'd like to share the reply we recieved from the Scottish Government in relation to the other petition's Scotttish Government petition. As always names have been retracted for privacy and safety - we apologise if you can't understand or don't like this but unless someone states they want their name shared we will not do so as we do not feel it is right or necessary.

Below is the reply we received from the Burial and Cremation, Anatomy and Death Certification Team.

"Responsibility for the management, security and upkeep of burial grounds lies with the relevant burial authority – in this case, the City of Edinburgh Council.

Existing legislation already ensures that all burial authorities have the powers to put appropriate measures in place to tackle unacceptable behaviour in burial grounds.

The Scottish Government believes that burial authorities are best placed to make burial management rules that suit their local circumstances and communities, including whether dogs should be permitted and the conditions under which dogs are allowed to enter a burial ground." 

So the Scottish Government themselves are saying current matters are for Edinburgh Council to decide not them.

"The Scottish Government is currently in the process of implementing the Burial and Cremation (Scotland) Act 2016.

The Act updates legislation for all burial grounds and burial authorities across Scotland.

We understand how important burial grounds are to people and that is why part of the work we are taking forward is regulations for the management of burial grounds.

A public consultation on burial
regulations ran from the 25 August to the 17 November 2023 and we are currently analysing the responses to help us inform next steps. The analysis report will be published on the Scottish Government website as soon as it is ready"

This is a little confusing as on initial reading it would appear they can make rules in cemeteries - "regulations for the management of burial grounds"

However, reading the Act and some related documents (shared below) it appears that the Act is not about cemetery behaviours or cemetery rules per se and certainly not as we have been discussing them. 

The Act appears to be more about procedures, services and legislation relating to our desceased and how they are managed after their death. Specifically the act examines: burial, inspection, funeral director licensing, documentation and in a recent consultation alkaline hydrolysis (an alternative to burial and cremation).

We may be wrong on this but it certainly appears from their own correspondence and legislation that the government don't manage cemetery rules (as discussed by ourselves and the other petition) and would not be able to decide if dogs were banned with or without excemptions.

Bizarrely, given the above information, the team also wrote:

"I am aware that the Scottish Parliament’s Citizen Participation and Public Petitions Committee is
currently considering public petition PE2087: Pass a law making exercising a dog in a cemetery an
offence.

The Scottish Government’s response to that petition will be issued to the Committee in due
course.

I appreciate you contacting the Scottish Government and bringing the counter petition to the
City of Edinburgh Council to our attention."

We are unsure why their Scottish Government petition is even under consideration given they themselves have stated rules such as this are to be decided by local authorities and not the government but we are are seeking clarification.

Given it appears that rules re dogs in our 43 cemetries in Edinburgh will be decided by our officials in Edinburgh we belive our current counter petition to the petition for "No dogs" rule (with excemptions) is still very relevent and we ask you to continue to help us get it signed and shared. 

We have spoken to many people who don't believe the council would actually change the rules and we ourselves are doubtful but we can't rest on this - we need to ensure that those of us against a rule change have our voice heard in case it is decided to review rules.

Burial and Cremation (Scotland) Act 2016
https://www.legislation.gov.uk/asp/2016/20/contents/enacted

Slightly easier and much shorter document with information re what the act covers, from the introduction to  consulation on the act 2023  
https://www.gov.scot/publications/management-burial-grounds-application-burial-exhumation-private-burial-restoration-lairs-regulation-scotland/pages/1/

Cremation (Scotland) Regulations 2019: Guidance:
https://www.gov.scot/publications/cremation-scotland-regulations-2019-guidance/pages/2/