Blanche Cameron

Religious discrimination is just one reason why Southwark's burial project cannot go ahead. In July 2016 we gave ten reasons why it is not ? and never can be ? viable. These inclued: Our green spaces are too valuable to be used for burial plots. Burial over the dead is not an option for many. History and heritage of those buried and their families must be respected and preserved. As a campaign, we are not against families using plots they already own for addional interments. 10 Reasons: http://www.savesouthwarkwoods.org.uk/inner-city-burial-not-viable/4592656246 The cemeteries are full. The playing fields, playground, and allotments have proven they are more valuable as they are than new burial plots. The only two other areas where there are no graves are the land next to the Honor Oak Park station and a small wooded area on the side of One Tree Hill. These two sites can provide a maximum of five years of burials. After that graves in other areas will have to be mounded over and dug up. As our website says "We are fighting to save the Camberwell Cemeteries as Nature Reserves with respect for the dead and their memorials, and woods, green spaces and nature for the living." These are cemeteries and we believe the dead (and the cemeteries they are in) should be left to rest in peace. If you have a question, please feel free to email me. Blanche Cameron Friends of Camberwell Cemeteries / Save Southwark Woods Campaign 07731 304 966 [email protected] [www.savesouthwarkwoods.org.uk] Twitter: @southwarkwoods Facebook: Save Southwark Woods Friends of Camberwell Cemeteries was founded as Save Southwark Woods in January 2015 to stop the destruction of the woods and graves of Camberwell Old and New Cemeteries. We are for maintaining recreational activities already taking place on cemetery grounds, such as the Recreation Ground and Allotments. We are for preserving the cemeteries as Memorial Park Nature Reserves, like Nunhead or Highgate Cemeteries.

BURIAL DISCRIMINATION: Today, we wrote to the Diocese of Southwark and asked if they were aware of Southwark?s discriminatory burial policy and if so, do they condone it. Southwark has never provided burial for most Muslim and Jewish residents who require certain funeral rites as part of the practice of their faith in death - such as not being buried in or over other people?s graves, burial in a specific, segregated cemetery and so on. Southwark Council is subsidising burial for Christians - in this time of cutbacks. The Council has applied to the Diocese of Southwark for permission for burial developments that continue the discrimination. Letter to Diocese http://www.savesouthwarkwoods.org.uk/diocese-reject-discrimination/4593678140 Illegal religious discrimination is just one reason why Southwark's burial plans are doomed and must be stopped now. RYEDALE FLOOD RISK It has been raining. Southwark has confirmed that they cannot say if current burial design won?t lead to homes being flooded. Vegetation has been removed from the Underhill/Ryedale area before flood control measure were even designed, let alone implemented. http://savesouthwarkwoods.org.uk/council-hasnt-done-soil-tests/4593517787 UPDATE: 1. We are still waiting for Southwark to apply for planning permission for the Old Nursery Site in the Honor Oak Park Nature Corridor, next to Honor Oak Park station. Surely there are better things to do with this site than a few years of burial plots? 2. We are still waiting for the Church of England, Diocese of Southwark, to give the go-ahead for Southwark to continue work on the Underhill/Ryedale site and on One Tree Hill, where up to 60 trees will be cut down for 145. Blanche Cameron Friends of Camberwell Cemeteries / Save Southwark Woods Campaign 07731 304 966 [email protected] [www.savesouthwarkwoods.org.uk] Twitter: @southwarkwoods Facebook: Save Southwark Woods Friends of Camberwell Cemeteries was founded as Save Southwark Woods in January 2015 to stop the destruction of the woods and graves of Camberwell Old and New Cemeteries. We are against digging up or mounding over graves - so called 'reuse' and 'reclamation'. We are against the destruction of memorials and monuments of the dead. We are against cutting down trees and undergrowth to provide burial space. We are for maintaining recreational activities already taking place on cemetery grounds, such as the Recreation Ground and Allotments. We are for preserving the cemeteries as Memorial Park Nature Reserves, like Nunhead or Highgate Cemeteries.

oddlycurious Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > "Right now, perhaps half of all the burial demand > in the borough cannot be met in Southwark's > cemeteries. Orthodox or strict Muslims and Jews > need dedicated, consecrated cemeteries. > If you don't have the numbers how can you say half > the demand is not being met? Southwark has not carried out a Burial Needs Assessment as recommended by Harriet Harman so no one knows. We calculate that Southwark?s 30,000 or so Muslim and Jewish residents make up around 10% of the borough?s population but around a third of residents who require burial. In addition, many families wanting burial of other faiths don't want to buried on top of the remains of the dead. Southwark admits its not providing burial fairly. Its own 2012 Cemetery Strategy states: ?The shortage of burial space has meant that cemetery space allocated for Muslim burials has been exhausted. This means that residents observing Islamic funeral rites and requiring graves prepared in adherence to Islamic law, must seek internment [sic] outside of the borough.? We wrote a statement today about this: http://savesouthwarkwoods.org.uk/death-taxes-and-discrimination/4593668565 It would be a shame to continue destroying the natural beauty, heritage, and family history of the cemeteries for a provision that may be illegal and eventually stopped. Blanche Cameron Friends of Camberwell Cemeteries / Save Southwark Woods Campaign 07731 304 966 [email protected] [www.savesouthwarkwoods.org.uk] Twitter: @southwarkwoods Facebook: Save Southwark Woods Friends of Camberwell Cemeteries was founded as Save Southwark Woods in January 2015 to stop the destruction of the woods and graves of Camberwell Old and New Cemeteries. We are against digging up or mounding over graves - so called 'reuse' and 'reclamation'. We are against the destruction of memorials and monuments of the dead. We are against cutting down trees and undergrowth to provide burial space. We are for maintaining recreational activities already taking place on cemetery grounds, such as the Recreation Ground and Allotments. We are for preserving the cemeteries as Memorial Park Nature Reserves, like Nunhead or Highgate Cemeteries.

There are many issues involved. Here are just a few: Southwark has not consulted with the families of those buried in the cemeteries as to whether they agree to having their loved ones being dug up or have their loved ones' graves mounded over. There has been no Burial Needs Assessment by Southwark to find out what the real burial needs are. Right now, perhaps half of all the burial demand in the borough cannot be met in Southwark's cemeteries. Orthodox or strict Muslims and Jews need dedicated, consecrated cemeteries. And many people do not want to be buried on top of the graves of the dead. We don't know how many are not being served because Southwark hasn't done the research. These families cannot be buried in Southwark cemeteries yet are asked to pay for them. Southwark has not done research into out of borough burial which would provide options for all residents' burial needs - as required in Cabinet 2012 conditions. Southwark has not shown that cemetery works won't flood houses below the cemetery - as required by planning. There has been no Flood Risk Assessment for houses with two acres woods removed. There has been no financial accountability from Southwark in this time of cuts. They have not responded to multiple requests for burial service expenditure to date and forecasts for future expenture. They have given a blank cheque for this non-statutory service. Southwark's Burial Strategy needs a change in the law to dig up the graves and continue burying. They are spending millions as if they already have the change in law. The cemeteries are cemeteries and should remain cemeteries. The graves should be left alone. These are just a few issues which make Southwark's plans unacceptable. Blanche Cameron Friends of Camberwell Cemeteries / Save Southwark Woods Campaign 07731 304 966 [email protected] [www.savesouthwarkwoods.org.uk] Twitter: @southwarkwoods Facebook: Save Southwark Woods Friends of Camberwell Cemeteries was founded as Save Southwark Woods in January 2015 to stop the destruction of the woods and graves of Camberwell Old and New Cemeteries. We are against digging up or mounding over graves - so called 'reuse' and 'reclamation'. We are against the destruction of memorials and monuments of the dead. We are against cutting down trees and undergrowth to provide burial space. We are for maintaining recreational activities already taking place on cemetery grounds, such as the Recreation Ground and Allotments. We are for preserving the cemeteries as Memorial Park Nature Reserves, like Nunhead or Highgate Cemeteries.

We issued a statement today on the history of Council's burial strategy [incomplete] "Residents fight Southwark digging up the dead" "Inner city cemeteries are full and the plan was to allow cemetery owners to dig up the dead and reuse their graves. Just one little problem, or two, or three... Residents don?t want their loved ones dug up. And residents don?t want acres of cemetery woods and trees cut down to get at people?s graves. Families and history lovers don?t want headstones and memorials destroyed." You can read here it in full: http://www.savesouthwarkwoods.org.uk/grave-reuse-unacceptable/4593658115 Update: We are Still waiting for the Diocese of Southwark to give permission to Southwark to continue work on the Underhill Road side of Camberwell Old Cemetery and to start on One Tree Hill in Camberwell New Cemetery. They seemed to have started without the proper permission. At least 26 trees (and possibly/probably more) will be cut down on the side of One Tree Hill for only 145 burial plots and possibly/probably less. Second, the Council said they will apply for planning permission in mid-February for 1000 burial plots on the Old Nursery Site next to Honor Oak Rec on the Honor Oak Nature Corridor. We are waiting for this application. Blanche Cameron Friends of Camberwell Cemeteries Save Southwark Woods Campaign 07731 304 966 [email protected] http://www.savesouthwarkwoods.org.uk Twitter: @southwarkwoods Facebook: Save Southwark Woods

We issued a statement today regarding burial costs. "Austerity-Strapped Southwark Blowing Millions on Burial Plots" Southwark is spending millions subsidising ?new? burial plots over the dead in the Camberwell Cemeteries. Subsidies per plot are at least ?1,000 and quite possibly ?3,000 or more in real terms. You can read it here: http://savesouthwarkwoods.org.uk/unaccountable-burial-service/4593627679 Update: First, we are still waiting for the Church to allow Southwark to continue work on the Underhill Road side of Camberwell Old Cemetery and to start on One Tree Hill in Camberwell New Cemetery. At least 26 trees will be cut down, and possibly more, for 145 burial plots. Second, the Council has said they will make application any day now for 1000 burial plots on the Old Nursery Site next to Honor Oak Rec on the Honor Oak Nature Corridor. Blanche Cameron Friends of Camberwell Cemeteries Save Southwark Woods Campaign 07731 304 966 [email protected] [www.savesouthwarkwoods.org.uk] Twitter: @southwarkwoods Facebook: Save Southwark Woods

Attached is the summary page of the Council's report - with notes. Southwark cut down a hillside of trees - the Council can call it scrub - without doing tests to see if that would increase the risk of flooding to the houses below the cemetery. They did not do tests to see if the suggested flood protection measures (including a storage tank on top of graves) could even be supported by the ground conditions. They may not even be able to do the tests as it may mean disturbing graves. See attached photo of mountain of wood chips. We are meeting 7:30pm Tuesday 7 February at the Herne Tavern - everyone welcome. Blanche Cameron Friends of Camberwell Cemeteries Save Southwark Woods Campaign 07731 304 966 [email protected] [www.savesouthwarkwoods.org.uk] Twitter: @southwarkwoods Facebook: Save Southwark Woods

Update: Flood Risk on Ryedale from Camberwell Old Cemetery Camberwell Old Cemetery made the South London Press today. Please see attached article. Southwark Council stripped the trees behind Ryedale on Underhill Road in February 2016 without putting flood protection measures in place (or even having done the needed tests or designing preventative measures). We are still awaiting word from the Diocese of Southwark Consistory Court to see if the Council's project on One Tree Hill and on Underhill Road/Ryedale (Area Z) can go ahead. There are still 10 acres of beautiful cemetery woods left in Camberwell Old Cemetery and Camberwell New Cemetery. Go have a look. The Council has told us they will put their planning permission application in mid-February for the Old Nursery Site. The site is also called "Area B" and is on the Honor Oak Nature Corridor behind One Tree Hill. We meet every Tuesday at 7:30PM at the Herne Tavene on Forest Hill Road in East Dulwich. Blanche Cameron Friends of Camberwell Cemeteries Save Southwark Woods Campaign 07731 304 966 [email protected] [www.savesouthwarkwoods.org.uk] Twitter: @southwarkwoods Facebook: Save Southwark Woods Friends of Camberwell Cemeteries was founded as Save Southwark Woods in January 2015 to stop the destruction of the woods and graves of Camberwell Old and New Cemeteries. We are against digging up or mounding over graves - so called 'reuse' and 'reclamation'. We are against the destruction of memorials and monuments of the dead. We are against cutting down trees and undergrowth to provide burial space. We are for maintaining recreational activities already taking place on cemetery grounds, such as the Recreation Ground and Allotments. We are for preserving the cemeteries as Memorial Park Nature Reserves, like Nunhead or Highgate Cemeteries.

NEWS: Southwark didn't test for flood risk to homes on Ryedale before chopping trees in Camberwell Old Cemetery. Now they will have to do soil tests before any work resumes. The Catch? Catches. One, the Council has told us they need permission from the Diocese of Southwark to resume work so they can do the testing, and they don't have permission yet. Second, these tests can only take place in the winter and it is almost February. It may have to wait until next year. And finally, we believe they don't have the legal right to bore holes into graves to do the needed tests. http://savesouthwarkwoods.org.uk/council-hasnt-done-soil-tests/4593517787 Blanche Cameron Friends of Camberwell Cemeteries Save Southwark Woods Campaign 07731 304 966 [email protected] [www.savesouthwarkwoods.org.uk] Twitter: @southwarkwoods Facebook: Save Southwark Woods

Flooding on Ryedale from Camberwell Old Cemetery The "stakeholders" were given a report Tuesday 17 January 2017 by Southwark Coucncil's flooding officer John Kissi "Briefing Note: Camberwell Old Cemetery - Area Z Proposed Works - Drainage". Area Z is on Underhill Road, backing on to Ryedale. We were told that there must be additional testing by the Council to ascertain whether the ground can support the two planned soakaway tanks or that the tanks will even be up to the task of stopping neighborhood flooding. Plans to provide burial plots above the 48,000 graves necessitate the construction of two soakaway tanks - one tank to be constructed on top of graves of Southwark's dead. Council flood officer John Kissi made the observation that if there is a one-in-hundred-year flood everyone will be flooded. One in hundred year floods seem to come sooner than ever. Mr Kissi's report stated that further investigation needs to be done before burial is to take place and that test pits must be dug in the winter months to test whether the soil has the strength to hold the soakaway tanks and the 700 plus graves and to test soil's ability to drain the soakaway tanks. Hundreds of trees have been cut down and the Council is not even sure they can bury on site. Regarding Area D1, One Tree Hill It was pointed out the council used the same photograph of The Glade for "before" and "after" views - not showing the how it will look when 26 trees are cut down. Blanche Cameron Friends of Camberwell Cemeteries Save Southwark Woods Campaign 07731 304 966 [email protected] [www.savesouthwarkwoods.org.uk] Twitter: @southwarkwoods Facebook: Save Southwark Woods Friends of Camberwell Cemeteries was founded as Save Southwark Woods in January 2015 to stop the destruction of the woods and graves of Camberwell Old and New Cemeteries. We are against digging up or mounding over graves - so called 'reuse' and 'reclamation'. We are against the destruction of memorials and monuments of the dead. We are against cutting down trees and undergrowth to provide burial space. We are for maintaining recreational activities already taking place on cemetery grounds, such as the Recreation Ground and Allotments. We are for preserving the cemeteries as Memorial Park Nature Reserves, like Nunhead or Highgate Cemeteries.

Penguin68 Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > The only link is to your interpretation of their > letter. I am sorry if you were not able to see the entire letter from the Diocese of Southwark to Rebecca Towers of London Borough of Southwark. We posted it on our website and it should be visible. The reader can draw his or her own conclusions as to the remit of the Diocese of Southwark over the cutting down of trees in consecrated areas of the cemeteries. Southwark feels it needs faculty from the Diocese. I have reposted the link here. http://savesouthwarkwoods.org.uk/no-church-permission-for-works/4591833195 Blanche Cameron Friends of Camberwell Cemeteries Save Southwark Woods Campaign 07731 304 966 [email protected] [www.savesouthwarkwoods.org.uk] Twitter: @southwarkwoods Facebook: Save Southwark Woods Friends of Camberwell Cemeteries was founded as Save Southwark Woods in January 2015 to stop the destruction of the woods and graves of Camberwell Old and New Cemeteries. We are against digging up or mounding over graves - so called 'reuse' and 'reclamation'. We are against the destruction of memorials and monuments of the dead. We are against cutting down trees and undergrowth to provide burial space. We are for maintaining recreational activities already taking place on cemetery grounds, such as the Recreation Ground and Allotments. We are for preserving the cemeteries as Memorial Park Nature Reserves, like Nunhead or Highgate Cemeteries.

We believe the Diocese of Southwark has faculty over felling of trees and disturbing graves on consecrated ground. Please see their letter to the LB of Southwark, link below. It remains to be seen if the Church will give permission - or faculty - to Southwark to continue cutting down woods, removing memorials, laying roads over graves and burying over the dead in consecrated areas of Camberwell Old and New Cemeteries. They may not. http://savesouthwarkwoods.org.uk/no-church-permission-for-works/4591833195 Blanche Cameron Friends of Camberwell Cemeteries Save Southwark Woods Campaign 07731 304 966 [email protected] [www.savesouthwarkwoods.org.uk] Twitter: @southwarkwoods Facebook: Save Southwark Woods Friends of Camberwell Cemeteries was founded as Save Southwark Woods in January 2015 to stop the destruction of the woods and graves of Camberwell Old and New Cemeteries. We are against digging up or mounding over graves - so called 'reuse' and 'reclamation'. We are against the destruction of memorials and monuments of the dead. We are against cutting down trees and undergrowth to provide burial space. We are for making the cemeteries Memorial Park Nature Reserves, like Nunhead or Highgate Cemeteries.

Pioneering economic valuation of nature moves ahead in Southwark. For the first time, Southwark has agreed to assess the monetary value of the natural assets of Camberwell Old and New Cemeteries in East Dulwich and Honor Oak. Funding for the technical support required to produce an Ecosystem Services Assessment ? an economic valuation - of all zones of the Camberwell Cemeteries - is being made available. This is a step in the right direction from the Council and Friends of Camberwell Cemeteries Save Southwark Woods Campaign welcomes it. Southwark Council is in the process of cutting down hundreds of trees, and scraping away valuable undergrowth to keep burial in the Borough. At the moment, they are awaiting permission from the Diocese of Southwark to cut down up to 60 trees of the The Glade on One Tree Hill and continue chainsawing the woods on Underhill Road. The full value of nature can never be reduced to money. But nature?s benefits, such as absorbing flooding, cleaning the air, cooling in summer and so on are services which otherwise Southwark would have to pay for, via additional drainage systems, health care costs and more. Full information: http://savesouthwarkwoods.org.uk/valuing-natural-assets-begins/4593478545 Blanche Cameron Friends of Camberwell Cemeteries Save Southwark Woods Campaign 07731 304 966 [email protected] [www.savesouthwarkwoods.org.uk] Twitter: @southwarkwoods Facebook: Save Southwark Woods Friends of Camberwell Cemeteries was founded as Save Southwark Woods in January 2015 to stop the destruction of the woods and graves of Camberwell Old and New Cemeteries. We are against digging up or mounding over graves - so called 'reuse' and 'reclamation'. We are against the destruction of memorials and monuments of the dead. We are against cutting down trees and undergrowth to provide burial space. We are for making the cemeteries Memorial Park Nature Reserves, like Nunhead or Highgate Cemeteries.

Attached is our 12 Days of Southwark Burial holidaytime card. This is what is going on in Camberwell Cemeteries: ONE TREE HILL: We are waiting for the Diocese of Southwark to give Southwark Council permission to build an access road {or 'path') on top of graves and to cut down as many as (or more than) 45 trees for 145 graves in Camberwell New Cemetery on One Tree Hill just outside the Nature Reserve. UNDERHILL ROAD: We are waiting for the Diocese to give faculty to continue work to create 700 plus burial plots above graves on the Underhill Road side of Camberwell Old Cemetery. HONOR OAK PARK OLD NURSERY SITE: Southwark has informed us that they will ask for planning permission in January 2017 for over 1000 burial plots on the three acre Old Nursery Site by Honor Oak Train Park station. The plots will be laid out in a similar configuration to area next to The Rec, disregarding a community consultation that asked that no burial take place on the site. Blanche Cameron Friends of Save Southwark Woods Campaign 07731 304 966 [email protected] http://www.savesouthwarkwoods.org.uk Twitter: @southwarkwoods Facebook: Save Southwark Woods Friends of Camberwell Cemeteries was founded as Save Southwark Woods in January 2015 to stop the destruction of the woods and graves of Camberwell Old and New Cemeteries. We are against digging up or mounding over graves - so called 'reclamation' and 'reuse'. We are for making the cemeteries Memorial Park Nature Reserves, like Nunhead or Highgate Cemeteries.

Old Nursery Site Decision: Thursday Councillor Ian Wingfield (Cabinet Member for Environment and the Public Realm, Labour - Brunswick Park) announced Southwark will seek to use the Old Nursery site, Honor Oak Park, for conventional burial plots with headstones. Southwark will be applying in January for planning permission for Option 2 - which is rows of mown burial plots. 76% of residents surveyed in June/July of 2016 were against using this part of the Honor Oak Nature Corridor for burial plots. Latest News: http://www.savesouthwarkwoods.org.uk/funeral-companies-are-the-boss/4593403146 Against burial plots on the site: http://www.savesouthwarkwoods.org.uk/survey-says-woods-not-burial/4593068903 Final Meeting of the Year: Tuesday, December 20th at 7pm will be the last meeting of 2016 of Friends of Camberwell Cemeteries and the Save Southwark Woods Campaign. Meet a the Herne Tavern, 2 Forest Hill Road SE22 0RR. All welcome, hope to see you there. Blanche Cameron Friends of Camberwell Cemeteries - Save Southwark Woods Campaign 07731 304 966 [email protected] http://www.savesouthwarkwoods.org.uk @southwarkwoods Facebook Save Southwark Woods

Here is Private Eye's take on what is going on in the Camberwell Cemeteries - David Ziggy Greene?s Scene and Heard from August 2016. http://www.savesouthwarkwoods.org.uk/private-eye-exposes-scandal/4592785767 We are still waiting to hear if the Diocese of Southwark, Church of England, has given Southwark permission to cut down dozens of trees in The Glade on One Tree Hill in the New Cemetery (Brenchley Gardens and to continue cutting trees and mounding over graves in Camberwell Old Cemetery (Woodvale). Blanche Cameron Friends of Camberwell Cemeteries - Save Southwark Woods Campaign 07731 304 966 [email protected] www.savesouthwarkwoods.org.uk @southwarkwoods Facebook Save Southwark Woods

Latest news on Southwark Council's desecration of the graves of the poor. Where have the headstones gone? 15th April 2016 www.savesouthwarkwoods.org.uk/where-have-the-headstones-gone Today, Save Southwark Woods asked Labour-run Southwark Council to stop desecrating the graves of the poor and demanded to know where their headstones have gone? New photos from the 150 year-old Camberwell Old Cemetery in East Dulwich show Labour-run Southwark Council?s contempt for the poor - even in death. Memorials have been removed from vast areas, for the land over the dead to be flogged off as ?new? burial grounds. In the last two months alone, two acres have been cleared of hundreds of trees and the memorials of the dead. Many more acres are to come. Save Southwark Woods has written to Southwark Council asking to be told where the memorials have gone and what is to happen to them? Families are disgusted and appalled at the planned destruction of loved ones? graves and say they have not been consulted: ?Southwark?s whole project is horrific,? said John Repsch, ?My grandmother is buried in a common grave in Camberwell New Cemetery. What is to happen to her? Southwark Councillors are acting like grave robbers. This is theft - of my grandmother?s grave, of our family history, of the respect and dignity I want my grandmother to have in death.? This is a test case for the UK. All British cemeteries could be at risk of the same destruction if Southwark Council is allowed to continue to bulldoze over the wishes of thousands of residents and families. ?Southwark Labour harps on about being for working class people - while taking away their homes and their graves,? said Blanche Cameron of Save Southwark Woods. ?Southwark is desecrating and bulldozing the heritage of the poor and our nature and history for profit - and against a huge public outcry. Peter John must stop his mass destruction of the beautiful and historic Camberwell Cemeteries now - while there are still woods and graves to save.? Save Southwark Woods? letter to Peter John at Southwark Council is below. Dear Peter John, Re: Desecration of graves, removal of memorials at Camberwell Old Cemetery - requests for information and site visit I am writing on behalf of Save Southwark Woods to ask for information and a site visit at the earliest opportunity. 1. Where have the memorials removed from Camberwell Old Cemetery have gone (see photos attached)? 2. What is your justification for this desecration of the graves of the poor? 3. What is to happen to them? Are they to be discarded? Or crushed as part of your mass grave ?reuse? project? 4. Why has Southwark Council not consulted with families and residents about your mass grave ?reuse? project? 5. In 2012 you adopted a strategy for the mass reuse of graves and have been implementing it ever since, starting with the mounding over of tens of thousands of graves on Woodvale, Camberwell Old Cemetery in 2013? Your website states: ?The council?s cemetery strategy prioritises the re-use and reclamation of public and private graves (the law states that graves older than 75 years could be re-used for burial).? Why then did Southwark Council state to the Evening Standard this week ?we are not committed to reuse? and ?we will only proceed with reuse after consultation and legal guidance?? http://www.standard.co.uk/news/london/campaigners-outraged-with-plans-to-excavate-and-reuse-thousands-of-old-southwark-graves-a3221391.html 6. When can we view what is now a mass grave ?reuse? development site, Area Z at Camberwell Old Cemetery, with independent expert witnesses? I am copying this request for information and site visit to Chancellor Philip Petchey and Registrar Paul Morris at the Diocese of Southwark, and to Southwark Council?s Freedom of Information Requests department. I look forward to hearing from you. Sincerely, Blanche Cameron Blanche Cameron Save Southwark Woods Campaign 07731 304 966 [email protected] www.savesouthwarkwoods.org.uk @southwarkwoods Facebook Save Southwark Woods Save Southwark Woods was founded in January 2015 to stop the destruction of Camberwell Old and New Cemeteries, with woods for the living and respect for the dead and their memorials. The Camberwell Cemeteries story: Evening Standard 10th April 2016 http://www.standard.co.uk/news/london/campaigners-outraged-with-plans-to-excavate-and-reuse-thousands-of-old-southwark-graves-a3221391.html Save the Heritage and Beauty of Britain's Cemeteries Trees - Our Cities? Lungs: a child?s story http://savesouthwarkwoods.org.uk/8-yr-old-eco-warriors-story/4592026982 Sign the petition to save Southwark Woods https://you.38degrees.org.uk/petitions/save-southwark-woods

Happy Easter everyone. No hurricane or biblical flood predicted anymore for tomorrow. Free Tours of the threatened Camberwell Cemeteries, the graves and the woods. Nature, history and beauty being destroyed by Southwark Council in central London. http://www.savesouthwarkwoods.org.uk/easter-tours/4592035728 11AM Old Cemetery Gates on Forest Hill Road, SE22 0RR 1PM New Cemetery Gates on Brenchley Gardens, SE23 3RD Also, watch this video of last summer, A Walk Through Victorian Camberwell Old Cemetery: The petition to save th woods and graves of the Camberwell Cemeteries is here: https://you.38degrees.org.uk/petitions/save-southwark-woods Hope you can join us tomorrow, have a lovely Easter. Best wishes, Blanche for Save Southwark Woods

While over two acres of woods and memorials have been already cleared in Camberwell Old Cemetery to provide new burial plots over the already dead, there is still a lot left to appreciate and to save. This weekend will be a good time to explore. There are almost nine acres of woods in the Old Cemetery and an acre or more on One Tree Hill in the New Cemetery, which is the next area to be cut down The Council claim they will be cutting down 26 trees on One Tree Hill - bad enough - but in fact the small print of their plans allow them to cut as many as 60. And who knows if that is really the number of trees to be felled? (See below). And machinery will be driving a road up the side of One Tree Hill over the graves of poor people - a hillside so steep, it will need a switchback just to get up there. Anyone who can, do come and visit the cemeteries this weekend and see for yourself what is happening before their beauty is lost http://savesouthwarkwoods.org.uk/visit/4589491794 Best wishes Blanche Sue, you asked: What is the definition of a tree? The Court of Appeal ruled in a case in 2009 that anything which is not a seed and has the potential to become a tree - is a tree. That includes saplings and ?whips?. Yet Southwark Council decided to claim a tree is only a tree once it has reached 150mm girth when measured at 1.5 metres above the ground. Then they ignored their own definition, left many trees (even by their own definition) off their own plans, and have now cut down many trees above 150mm in Camberwell Old Cemetery Area Z. In fact, laws on trees that relate to Camberwell Old and New Cemeteries include the Church?s Faculty Jurisdiction Rules 2015 which state clearly that all trees over 75mm girth measured at 1.5m above ground level require a Faculty from the Church in order to be felled by anyone, including the Council. http://www.savesouthwarkwoods.org.uk/council-misleading-over-works/4591666904 Tree felling is part of the faculty / permission the Council has yet to receive from the Church. The Council has just gone ahead and felled hundreds of trees without it.

Local burial in these cemeteries comes at a tremendous cost to people, nature and heritage. No-one disputes what the Council is doing. They are cutting down acres of woods, mounding over thousands of graves (48,000 in Area Z alone), removing thousands of memorials, then digging up and reburying the local dead in order to bury other people. That is a heavy price to pay in order to bury people. Many inner city cemeteries are now Memorial Park Nature Reserves. That?s what we?d like to see for the Camberwell Cemeteries. Please see our recent video showing how Southwark Council has already destroyed woods and meadows in order to mound over a large area of poor people?s graves in the Old Cemetery. Blanche

Sue is this really about the Council's plans for the cemeteries? I offered to answer by email because you and others demanded replies to questions buried in the backlog. I send and receive most SSW emails but sometimes they are passed on to other members to answer - yes of course, that's very common practice for a community campaign group, or even a Council. I'm not on here all the time so as I've said I'm happy to answer questions do send them over. But do check they aren't on the FAQs first, thanks. Blanche

Sorry I won't be able to answer every question on here, I'm just one person and still ill. ​You can call or email me though as said and I will respond. ​You can also have a look on our FAQs page, maybe the answer is already on there: http://savesouthwarkwoods.moonfruit.com/faqs/4591807665 To answer one question​ here​, people who have relatives buried in the areas which are to be cleared of trees and memorials and mounded over will not be able to extend the lease on the graves. These mounded areas (Woodvale side, Underhill Road side and between the lanes/rides through the woods, and more in the New Cemetery too) are above public graves and the families have no rights over them at all. Even in death, the poor have fewer rights than the rich. There are also six areas of Commonwealth War Graves that the Council are about to mound over on Area Z. It's all in their documents. Sue​,​ of course you are completely within your rights to place as much ​(or even more)​ ​importance​ on new burial for local people in Camberwell Old Cemetery as on preserving its beautiful natural heritage and families' history. ​That's the choice available. But SSW is working to protect and preserve the glory of the woods and graves as rare and beautiful places for everyone and hope they will still be here this year, next year and beyond. Here is a video of the Old Cemetery last summer to bring it all back: Blanche

Nunhead Cemetery is an amazing asset to the area. There is no reason why Camberwell Old Cemetery (which is only 15 years younger) and Camberwell New, can't be protected. The Council and the Friends group have indicated that a lot of Nunhead Cemetery still isn't protected from having the old graves dug up and reused, which would mean also clearing the woods and wildlife to do it. Nor are the allotments or the playing fields safe from being used for burial, no matter what the original plan was supposed to be for the land. They should all be protected. When we started on this process we didn't realise there were some people who didn?t value the heritage and wild beauty of the cemeteries, including Nunhead Cemetery. We will work to protect all the woods and old graves and any greenspace the Council wants to take for burial use. Anyway, here is the video again of what?s happening in Camberwell Old Cemetery, in case you missed it. Please turn on captions/subtitles for the words. http://www.savesouthwarkwoods.org.uk/new-video-shows-destruction/4591950425 I'm afraid I still have pneumonia so I won't post often at the moment - feel free to email me questions, if I can help I will. Blanche [email protected] www.savesouthwarkwoods.org.uk

Sorry, I thought it would be obvious that forcing Orthodox Muslims and Jews to bury outside the borough while subsidising Christian and Atheist burials inside the borough is discriminatory. The reason I suggested Renata Hamvas could respond better to andrewc's point is because she and Helen Hayes have both only recently acknowledged Southwark has an issue with religious discrimination in their burial provision and they are looking at how to rectify it. Discrimination aside, we anyway feel it is wrong to cut down a living tree to bury a dead person. For a fuller explanation, you can read our answers to FAQs, where we also reprint Southwark Council's ​answers in full: www.savesouthwarkwoods.org.uk/faqs We also made a video last week documenting what is happening at Camberwell Old Cemetery for everyone to see: http://www.savesouthwarkwoods.org.uk/new-video-shows-destruction/4591950425 And we are having our weekly meeting tonight at The Herne Tavern of Forest Hill Road, East Dulwich. 7.30pm, do come and introduce yourself. Blanche Cameron [email protected]

Cllr Renata Hamvas/Helen Hayes, Perhaps you would answer andrewc's and others' questions regarding actions to be taken on religious discrimination in the existing burial service by Southwark? Blanche