It is not just the re-use of graves in crowded city cemeteries that should be occupying the minds of the death care industry, but the whole question of the end use of cemetery land, it was suggested at the Grounds for Burial conference in West London\'s Brompton Cemetery chapel.

Mauro Felicori, director of the Department of Culture in Bologna, Italy, and president of the newly formed Association of Significant Cemeteries in Europe (ASCE) wanted to see important cemeteries and the memorials within them preserved.

He said ASCE wanted to raise awareness of the historic, architectural and cultural significance of cemeteries and the function they can serve in bonding the nations of Europe.

Town and city authorities from 13 countries make up the majority of the 28 members of ASCE, although voluntary organisations can join for a nominal Ä1 subscription.

Cemeteries in the UK are represented on ASCE by the National Federation of Cemetery Friends, Abney Park Cemetery, Friends of Flaybrick Cemetery and Sheffield General Cemetery.

The importance of having an end use plan for cemeteries was emphasised by Sam Weller, chairman of the Association of Burial Authorities (ABA), which staged the conference.

Grave re-use, he said, not only secured a sustained supply of burial space but also ensured that grave owners maintained their plots in good condition, as any neglected grave could be repossessed and sold on.

In Britain, end uses of cemeteries could involve the creation of woodland or nature conservation areas. In Boston, Massachusetts, Mount Auburn Cemetery was intended to become a museum.

Sam Weller referred to research carried out in 1995 in the UK that resulted in a report, \'The Re-use of Old Graves\', indicating less than 30% of the country would object to the practice.

He also referred to current experiences in Australia, where a public information programme was launched in October and is intended to lead to the re-use of graves.

Remembrance parks with wooden memorials destined to rot away, were the concept described by Ecopartnerships director Donald Boddy. The end use of his burial grounds would be a green open space to be enjoyed by the local community.

Also looking at cemeteries as areas of green space, particularly in urban development, was Jenifer White, senior landscape advisor at English Heritage.

She spoke about the new Committee for Architecture & the Built Environment (CABE) set up by the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister (ODPM), which would, among other things, be considering the position of cemeteries in urban planning.

Landscape architect Peter Bareham showed how, with imaginative planting and buildings, contemporary cemeteries in mainland Europe were achieving memorial landscapes in a modern context that elevated them to places of architectural merit and civic pride.

Sharing knowledge about re-use as practised in Church of England graveyards, Julian Litten, author of \'The English Way of Death\' and member of the Human Remains in English Churchyards study group, deplored the way cemetery land could be used for supermarkets but not re-used for its original purpose.

Alan Fairchild, Secretary of the Society of Local Council Clerks, emphasised the urgent need for an industry standard for safety inspections and installation of memorials that would provide clerks with a template for management of health and safety issues in their burial grounds.

The Home Office Burial & Cemetery Advisory Group, he said, should be focussing more on this issue than on complex and long term legal and training procedures.

Patrick Kilburn, Head of Parks & Open Spaces at Harrogate Borough Council, described the installation system they had evolved from the Commonwealth War Graves monolith and concrete shoe method. It made stones virtually topple free.

Harrogate Borough Council now has a year\'s experience of operating the system and were able to confirm its acceptance with the public, memorial masons and robust safety criteria.