The introduction of alternatives to burial – including cremation – is being promoted in a draft policy on cemeteries that the Malta Environment and Planning Authority has published for consultation this morning.

The draft policy also aims to prohibit the construction of new cemeteries, as well as set the criteria which have to be met for extensions to existing cemeteries to be approved.

At present, there is no clear planning policy governing cemeteries. Cemeteries are mentioned in a number of local plans, but not in others, and development applications involving them are presently dealt with on an ad hoc basis.

The legal framework governing burials is the Burials Ordinance, which dates back to 1869 and which prohibits, among other things, graves which are not entirely underground – which prohibits the use of loculi in cemeteries to save space. The draft policy, in fact, recommends that the law should be revised to ensure it better serves present needs.

“We all know what the demand (for graves) is, but we cannot have no policy regulating the issue,” Parliamentary Secretary for Planning Michael Falzon said at the launch of the consultation document.

Around 50 cemeteries are presently in use in Malta, of which a majority are owned by the Catholic Church. The policy makes no distinction on ownership and religion, and aims to ensure that religious sensibilities are respected.

According to MEPA CEO Johann Buttigieg, the policy aims to strike a balance between the country’s needs, environmental and economic issues, while Dr Falzon stressed that traditions would not be trampled upon.

“We are also talking about social and cultural issues, so we cannot impose,” Dr Falzon maintained. “But the present situation is what it is, so we are also looking at new paths.”

At this point, the parliamentary secretary revealed, the government has not yet decided whether it would develop its own crematoria or leave it up to the private sector to do so.

While according to existing legislation, cemeteries must be placed at a distance of at least 183m from development zones – although a number of cemeteries are closer to built-up areas, and the policy would only allow these to be extended to upgrade facilities, and not increase the number of graves – crematoria would not necessarily have to meet this requirement, since they are essentially an industrial process. Mr Buttigieg, however, emphasised that this did not mean that crematoria would necessarily end up in industrial areas: they may be incorporated within cemeteries.

The policy is based on proposed objectives which had been published last December, and which have themselves led to 13 submissions from the public and from stakeholders.

It can be viewed on the authority's website www.mepa.org.mt/public-consultation, and will be up for consultation until 6 June. Submissions can be sent via email to [email protected] or in writing to MEPA, Director of Planning, Policy and Design Guidance for Cemeteries, P.O. Box 200, Marsa MRS 1000.