The Stratton Memorial Garden The Creation of a Burial Ground in Princes Risborough

This is a record of all the work put in over many years by Princes Risborough Town Council to provide a new burial ground, the Stratton Memorial Garden. It describes the long search and the problems encountered trying to find a suitable site.

After a number of abortive attempts, and, having resorted to an elimination survey of every field in the parish, a beautiful site was generously offered to the Council if the problems associated with it could be overcome.

After soil testing was performed, the Environment Agency recommended its suitability for the purpose of burials and outline planning permission was obtained.

To try and ensure that the final plans would be acceptable to the residents of Princes Risborough, the Council’s Burials Committee ensured that everyone had an opportunity to become involved in the design of the facility, with the use of public meetings, questionnaires delivered through the Council’s CROSStalk newsletter, poster displays and consultation meetings.

There was difficulty in obtaining an access to the site due to its designation as an area for future housing development. Developers owned a narrow strip of land called a ransom strip and were not willing to sell it for a reasonable price.

Once this issue was resolved, the Council applied for full planning permission. At this stage further setbacks occurred. Objectors raised some formidable problems, which are described, with details of how the Council was eventually able to overcome them.

Finally this record describes the stages of progress towards the actual development of the facility, and how all the associated issues, such as funding, management and policy, were tackled.

The first 18 chapters detail the problems encountered and lead through to the culmination of the project. The last 6 chapters give supplementary information.