A community was forced to pay hundreds of pounds extra to bury their relatives down the road or bury them 45 minutes away for no extra cost.
People in the Islamic community in south Sefton have said they were forced to choose between paying hundreds of pounds to have their relatives buried in Everton Cemetery due to it being in a different metropolitan borough or bury their relatives 45 minutes north in Southport. Chairperson of Sefton Multicultural Centre, Munzi Ali, worked with Sefton Council to introduce a plot closer to South Sefton that would be suitable for Islamic burials.
The 42-year-old, who has lived in Sefton since the age of two, said it "aggravated" him that people were having to make this decision. He told the ECHO : "There were a couple of members in the community who passed away during covid and, obviously, we had to look for burial sites and it turned out that the closest one was Everton or Liverpool where they do it in the Islamic religious way.
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"So there wasn't anywhere in South Sefton, there's one in Southport but that's about 45 minutes away from where the family were. They decided to go to Everton cemetery because it was closer and again it takes them 15-20 minutes to get there. But because they live outside the Liverpool City Council area and reside in Sefton, they have to pay extra to get the burial site.
"Because it happened a couple of times, that's why I started to talk to Sefton Council saying that, fair enough the Islamic community is quite small in south Sefton but it is growing and we saw the need for a burial site closer to home, for obvious reasons. It's not just for the burials but so loved ones and family members can go and visit the grave whenever they want.
"We had discussions with the council and they were supportive and they allocated a plot in Thornton Cemetery which is a lot closer. It's only about ten minutes."
A spokesperson for Sefton Council said: “Our cemeteries and crematoria across Sefton are non-denominational and we always work closely with bereaved families and representatives of faith groups to ensure we are respectful and accommodating during what is a difficult and often highly spiritual time.
“We do have provision for Islamic burials at our Liverpool Road cemetery and we are happy to work with faith groups to explore future provision at other sites in the borough."
A spokesperson for Liverpool City Council said: "This policy has been in place for a number of years and does have an appeal process, if people have recently moved out of the area, or had to move for treatment or care within five years of death. We determine a ‘resident’ as any person who at the time of death have been ordinarily resident in the city of Liverpool for a period of not less than three months.
"We do charge a non-residents fee for all burials of deceased who do not live in Liverpool. This is common practice around the UK (some authorities charge up to 10 times the residents' rate.)
"As an example locally, Sefton, St Helens and Wirral Councils all charge a non-resident fee too."
