Albert Road Cemetery serves the residents of Hedge End and provides an important amenity to the community and is, currently, the only cemetery within the Parish.
The Town Council's Recreation & Amenities Committee administer the grounds and the duties of Burial Authority are undertaken by the Deputy Town Clerk, Denise Lowth, who will also have overall responsibility for the Management Plan, monitoring and reviews. The Town Council prides itself in meeting the needs of the parishioner during the most sensitive and demanding times of bereavement by providing a concise Burial Authority Administration, and maintaining grounds that are a peaceful and tranquil environment, whilst also offering ecological and environmentally friendly practices.
As the Cemetery reaches completion (estimated to be within the next 7 years), the Town Council has found itself in the position of having to prohibit Non-parishioner interest both for interment and pre-purchase/reservation of grave spaces, thereby preserving this necessary amenity for the parishioner. Furthermore, it withdrew the facility for a Parishioner to pre-purchase/reserve a grave space until such time as a new Cemetery Site is guaranteed. These measures having been implemented during 2009, has resulted in a reduction in the demand upon the grounds and a pace at which the grounds can be preserved and maintained for the community. The former demands of Non-parishioner being evidence of the service Albert Road Cemetery provided.
A highly qualified and professional grounds team of five personnel are all involved in both the history of the site and its future. The development of this application has primarily been steered by Ken Hiscock, Groundsman, taking responsibility for physical areas of the cemetery, and studying areas for improvements to designing new flower beds, green waste recycling, litter control, locating finger posts and giving a uniform image to all ancillaries, i.e. commemorative seating, flower holders, litter and green bins, signage, appropriate spoil removal and enclosure etc. Ken Hiscock has supervised all works to the site, identifying issues that need to be addressed and has contributed to the Management Plan and provided photographs herein.
A Management Plan and associated Budget has been in existence and its concepts implemented since 1st April, 2009.
The motivation of this plan is to maintain a high standard of service to the public, maintenance of the grounds and in so doing ensuring an established future for the cemetery beyond its forthcoming closure in an estimated 7 - 8 years time.
VISION FOR ALBERT ROAD CEMETERY - HEDGE END

The cemetery has been set out to provide interments for full burial and cremation plots and has blanket Christian Consecration on these areas for a wide variety of denominations/faiths, as well as an area for Non-Christian Faiths.
The first interment took place in 1931 at which time memorial and kerbed plots were permitted, as well as full planting. However, in 1981, the Town Council designated the site a Lawn Cemetery from Section C onwards with special conditions as outlined in Cemetery Regulations (see appendix [i].
This Cemetery is complimented for the focal point it provides to the bereaved and visitors to the grounds. It benefits from the grounds covering a gradient, which even from its lowest point gives a magnificent vista, with Hedge End in the foreground to the far reaching horizon of the Portsdown Hills.
Three boundaries are flanked by residential properties and the tranquillity of the grounds are protected and screened with high fences, trees, shrubs and Prunes Laurel hedges. The fourth boundary, Albert Road, is screened with Silver Birch Trees, Evergreen Oak and Prunes Laurel hedges.
Full use of the Cemetery will be reached in less than 7 years time and over the past 20 years it has become increasingly evident that the grounds have become extremely desirable to Non-parishioner Reservation. As Burial Authority, the Town Council have endeavoured to protect the grounds and this essential amenity for the Parishioner, firstly by increasing the fees for Non-Parishioner Reservation, reaching as much as three times the fee to a Parishioner for a pre-purchase plot, to twice the fees for interment of Non- Parishioner. However, the aforementioned measures did not deter Non-Parishioner interest for this renowned Cemetery and it continued, until such time as the Town Council took the, somewhat reluctant step, of removing Non-Parishioner Reservation in order to preserve the remaining space for the Parishioner as the Cemetery draws ever more close to its completion.
The Town Council's vision and aim is to maintain the highest quality service and provision to the Parishioner, not only for an essential amenity at the most sensitive and demanding times but also in providing a peaceful, and tranquil place of rest that can be visited for its beauty, wildlife and quiet contemplation.
To maintain this vision now and in the future, the Town Council will:

Continue to serve the residents of Hedge End, by achieving the highest standards in Customer Care, as Burial Authority. Continue to maintain the grounds with correct Horticultural Practices and offer a sustainable burial service to Hedge End Parishioners.

Continue to develop and maintain Albert Road Cemetery to guarantee its future as an appreciated place of rest, to which the bereaved may mourn, remember and respect those that they have lost.

Continue to develop a Mapping & Data service from which the public may learn from a unique research Data Base, and enjoy the landscape, the history of interments and even genealogy research.

The Town Council will continue to maintain Best Practice in the services of its Burial Authority and provide ecologically sustainable facilities for the interment of the deceased whilst meeting the needs of the bereaved and visitors to the Cemetery.

Denise Lowth

Deputy Town Clerk
Hedge End Town Council