No interments can take place in any cemetery owned, managed or maintained by the Council unless permission has been obtained from the Cemeteries Team. The appropriate fee must be paid prior to the burial taking place, and the Application for Interment form obtained from and lodged with the Cemeteries Team by the Funeral Director or person organising the interment.
Hours for interments
- Monday to Friday between the hours of 9am and 4pm.
- Saturday between the hours of 9am and 1pm.
The expected time of arrival at the cemetery is to be provided on the Application for Interment form. If the expected arrival time is going to change by more than 15 minutes of the original notified time the Cemeteries Team or Sexton must be notified of the new time.
No interments will be scheduled after 4pm Monday to Friday or 1pm, Saturday or Sunday unless in exceptional circumstances and only with the prior approval of the Cemeteries Team or Sexton (extra fees will apply). Interments will only be accepted on the hour and at 30 minutes past the hour.
Where an interment continues after 4pm on weekdays or 1pm on a Saturday, a late fee will be charged to the Funeral Director or person organising the interment.
A Saturday or Public Holiday fee will be charged for interments, if a Sexton is attending including ash interments, taking place on a weekend or Public Holiday. An interment can occur on a Sunday or Public Holiday with the prior approval of the Manager Community Parks and payment of all applicable fees.
No interments will be scheduled on Christmas Day, Good Friday or Anzac Day.
Where Boxing Day and 2nd January fall on a Sunday and are observed on a Tuesday, an interment can take place on the Tuesday between 9am and 1pm, at the discretion of the Cemeteries Team.
Interment procedures and requirements
Only a Sexton or person authorised by the Council is permitted to prepare a plot for the burial of human remains, or ashes of human remains, in a Council cemetery.
All equipment for interments is supplied and removed by the Sextons ensuring all safety procedures are complied with.
If required a testing service is available at no cost to determine the availability of sufficient space for a second interment in an existing grave.
A body interred in a shroud must be placed on a board for interment. The body is to be firmly fastened to the board to prevent movement of the body when transferring and lowering.
Plots with concrete covers
Where a second or subsequent interment is to take place within a grave with a concrete cover or surround, only an approved Council Contractor is permitted to break the concrete. The Cemeteries Team can provide a list of approved contractors.
Any costs associated with breaking the concrete and reinstating the concrete cover or surround is the responsibility of the owner of the Exclusive Right of Burial. All work must comply with all the monumental specifications for the particular cemetery.
Poor person burial
The Burial and Cremation Act 1964 requires the Council to bury the bodies of poor persons and persons from any hospital, prison, or other public institution on the request of the person in charge of such institutions, free of charge upon an order from a Justice of the Peace. An Application for Interment form must still be completed before the interment takes place.
No monuments or crosses are permitted on a poor person’s grave as the Exclusive Right of Burial has not been purchased.
If a family wishes to erect a monument on a poor person’s grave this can be facilitated when all the cemetery fees and charges have been paid at the current rate. The Council will then issue a Certificate of Right of Burial, which entitles the person to apply for a Monumental Work Permit. After 60 years the fee for a right of burial is waived so a monument may be placed on the grave.
Poor person burial in a family plot
If the burial of a poor person is requested to be in a plot where the Exclusive Right of Burial is owned by someone other than the Council, (for example a family member or friend), the burial of the poor person will only be permitted if the Right of Burial holder agrees that no future monumental work or burials may take place in that plot until all burial fees and charges have been paid at the current rate.
Ash interments
Only a Sexton or person authorised by the Council is permitted to prepare a plot for the interment of ashes in a Council cemetery.
Once an Application for Interment has been accepted and the interment has been booked by the Cemeteries Team, the plot will be prepared for the ashes to be interred. As part of the preparation, the plot will be covered by a board to make the site safe prior to the interment. The next working day following interment the plot will be checked and remedied if necessary.
After the plot has been prepared the family or Funeral Director will inter the ashes in the plot, filling the plot back to ground level.
The family or Funeral Director may elect for the Council to fill the plot, this must be indicated on the Application for Interment. If the Council is needed to fill the plot on a Saturday then an additional fee will be charged.
If more than one set of ashes are to be interred at the same time in the same plot then an application for interment must be received for each set of ashes. Only one plot preparation fee will be charged for the interment of two or more sets of ashes in the same plot at the same time. This only applies if standard-sized ashes urns are used or if the ashes alone are to be interred. The Cemeteries Team should be contacted if a non-standard-sized urn is to be used.
The last booking for an ash interment is 12:30pm on a Saturday as the preparation of plots for ashes will not be permitted after 1pm on a Saturday. The family may arrive later or even on the Sunday to inter the ashes, provided this is indicated on the Application for Interment and has been approved by the Cemeteries Team.
Scattering of ashes
The scattering of ashes is not permitted in any Council cemetery. In future the Council may set aside areas for ash scattering.
Specific interments
Council provides for the requirements of different religions and cultures. Contact the Cemeteries Team for particular information.
Special procedures for Māori interments
The Council recognises, and provides for, the spiritual and cultural values of Māori regarding the departure of mate (dead people). This includes the choice to select a plot of significance to them, such as having the headstone face north, the availability of water at the cemetery, the opportunity for Māori to fill in the grave and to have a ceremony to unveil the headstone, if desired.
Infant and baby loss interments
Infant burials (up to 7 years of age) are available in many Council cemeteries. An infant can also be buried in either a quarter plot or a standard burial plot.
A new Infant and Baby Loss area is available at Belfast Cemetery. The area includes a Baby Loss Memorial area and interment options for burial and ash interments. The Baby Loss area can be used for still births (post 20 weeks or 400g) and any baby loss from a miscarriage (pre-20 weeks) to a Neonatal Death (28 days). Please contact the Cemeteries Team for more information and guidance.
Natural burials and green burials
More environmentally friendly burial options, often referred to as Natural Burials, Eco Burials or Green Burials are all concepts based on a desire to reduce the long-term impact on the environment and return the body to the earth in a way which hastens the decomposition process and provides nutrients for a native tree or plant.
Green burials
With no Natural Burial / Eco Burial area in Christchurch, two areas within working Council Cemeteries have been established at Diamond Harbour Memorial Gardens Cemetery and Yaldhurst Cemetery which Council is referring to as Green Burials.
Green Burials are very similar in many ways to Natural Burials, however the locations within working Council cemeteries will limit the extent of long-term ecological restoration, but will enable easier and long term access to plots.
Green burials requirements
- Can only be undertaken within designated areas within Council cemeteries.
- The next adjoining plot available will be allocated for use. Contact the Cemeteries Team for pre-purchase rules.
- Plots have a small area adjacent for the planting of a small tree instead of a monument in addition to planting on top of the grave.
- Interments to be single depth, only one casket in each plot with a minimum cover of 800mm.
- Caskets, coffins or body coverings must be biodegradable, made of untreated wood and not contain any chemical or substance that prevents the breakdown of the materials used.
- Caskets and coffin linings are to be biodegradable and not of synthetic fibre.
- Caskets, coffin handles and ornamentation are to be removed before burial (if not biodegradable).
- Body coverings or shrouds must be placed on a solid base of natural untreated timber for burial and firmly fastened to the base to prevent movement of the body when transferring and lowering. The fastening should be removed once lowered or be biodegradable.
- Body coverings or shrouds, including clothes, must be non–toxic and biodegradable including zips, buttons and any personal items or keepsakes to be buried with the body.
- Only natural artefacts can be buried with the body.
- At the time of interment caskets, coffins, body coverings or shrouds must not be leaking fluids or have an offensive smell.
- The body is not to be embalmed or contain any chemicals that would slow or prevent the natural breakdown of the body in the soil. Council may request documentation to confirm this.
- As with traditional burials, animals can be interred in Green Burial plots in the casket (if there is one) with the deceased at the time of burial. No ashes are to be interred in a Green Burial plot.
Ash interment requirements in a green burial area
- All plots are located within formed plant beds.
- The next adjoining plot available will be allocated for use. Contact the Cemeteries Team for pre-purchase rules.
- Any mulch on the plant bed is to be removed prior to plot preparation and replaced back when the interment is complete.
- Any container must be biodegradable or made of untreated wood and not contain any chemical or substance that prevents breakdown of the materials used.
- Only natural artefacts can be buried with the ashes.
Green burial memorials
- Memorials such as placing headstones on a Green Burial plot are not permitted.
- One untreated wooden marker per burial plot may be placed on the grave at the time of interment or within the first week. The marker must be no larger than 150mm 100mm in size and 250mm above ground level. The marker must be attached to an untreated timber stem a maximum size of 100mm x 100mm that can be pushed into the soil. The marker is to be centrally located at the head of the grave. The marker will be removed when the plot is planted.
- Two memorial seats have been provided in the Green Burial area at Diamond Harbour Memorial Gardens Cemetery, where one plaque per plot (100mm x 150mm maximum) can be installed.
Green burial planting
- Each Green Burial plot is allocated a small area at the head of each plot to allow for a large shrub or small tree to be planted if desired. Ash plots are located within existing plant beds so are not allocated this space, instead, planting must be within the plant bed either above the interment or immediately adjacent.
- The whole plot will be mulched and planted by Council the autumn following the interment.
- Council contractors will supply and plant the plants during a planting ceremony, where family and friends can participate and join in the planting.
- No planting is to be undertaken by anyone other than the Council or its contractors.
- If family and friends want to supply a particular plant/s, they would need approval of Council and would need to be planted during the planting ceremony.
Other environmentally friendly burial options
Burials at any operating cemetery may take place without embalming, but subject to all other rules applying to standard burials. No planting is permitted on top of the grave.
Family and friends of the deceased may remove non – biodegradable items prior to burial if they wish.
Diamond Harbour Memorial Gardens Cemetery Green Burial Area
Service areas
Applicable to Services areas within Bromley Cemetery, Ruru Lawn Cemetery, Diamond Harbour Memorial Gardens Cemetery and Lyttelton Catholic and Public Cemetery only.
Please be aware that the Cemeteries Team must verify that individuals qualify for a burial or ashes plot at no cost in these areas. Standard burial fees will apply.
Details of war service need to be supplied on the Application for Interment form, these include: branch of service, service number and dates of service. Failure to provide this information could result in the Application for Interment in a Services area being declined.
The Cemeteries Team need to receive this information as early in the process as is possible, as the information
needs to be forwarded to the New Zealand Defence Force Archives for service verification.
Specifications for service person’s interment
Only Service Personnel and their spouse or partner may be interred in the Service area.
The Service Person must be the first deceased to be buried.
Double-depth interments are permitted in the Service area to allow the spouse or partner of the deceased veteran to be interred in the same plot. A double plaque commemorating both deceased persons is provided at a subsidised rate.
Please note that all interments before 1988 are single depth and a second interment in these graves can only be ashes. After 1988 interments were double depth on request.
If the spouse or partner wishes to be interred to the side of the Service Person, they will have to pay the fee to purchase the burial right for the adjoining plot.
Children cannot be interred in a Service Person’s plot unless they are eligible for interment in the Service area in their own right.
The plot is allocated by the Cemeteries Team.
Service area monuments
If the interment of a deceased veteran is to be in a Service area, a standard ex-Service memorial either as a plaque or a headstone, depending on the type of cemetery, is available at a subsidised rate through Veterans’ Affairs New Zealand. In a Service area only the standard ex-Service memorial is permitted. The memorials are of a uniform style and there is no provision for personal messages or photographs.
If the interment is to be in a public cemetery (but not within the Service area), the next of kin can order a standard ex-Service memorial, either a plaque or headstone, at a subsidised rate.
War service eligibility and contacts
Please refer to the Veterans’ Affairs New Zealand website for eligibility: www.veteransaffairs.mil.nz (external link)
Application for an Ex-Service Memorial. Please apply to:
Veterans’ Affairs New Zealand
PO Box 5146
Wellington 6140
Free phone (NZ): 0800 483 8372.
International callers phone: +64 4 495 2070 (international toll charges will apply).
Email: veterans@nzdf.mil.nz.
For copies of Service records please refer to New Zealand Defence Force Archives(external link).
Avonhead Park Cemetery interment site
For the victims of the 22nd February 2011 Christchurch earthquake.
Inner Interment Circle
The Inner Interment Circle is reserved for the four unfound victims and their spouses or partners. The spouse or partner may be interred in the same plot. Only one recumbent granite plaque per person may be attached to the existing bluestone recumbent.
No immediate family (including children) may be interred in this plot. An ash plot can be purchased on the outer circle for immediate family members (children/parents /grandparents).
Outer Interment Circle – Blocks 2A and 3A
The Outer Interment Circle has 600mm x 600mm plots available for the ash interment of all victims of the Christchurch Earthquake and their spouse, partner, parents, children or grandparents. Each plot can hold four ash interments only and one upright or recumbent headstone.
Both the victim and their family may have their names engraved on the headstone.
Only the immediate family (spouse, partner, parents, children or grandparents) of earthquake victims may purchase plot/s in this area.
There is provision to purchase a plot to install a headstone without actually interring ashes. This may be the case if victims are buried in other locations, but the family would still like to be part of the interment site.
Avonhead Park Cemetery Earthquake Interment Site