Although there has been no official confirmation so far, it appears that Smalltown and Dullbridge (SaD) Town Councillors have agreed to kill off the Dead and Buried Committee.
The Dead and Buried Committee has long been viewed by Councillors as something of a graveyard shift, as the business of overseeing the management of three cemeteries could in no way be described as ‘exciting’ . Indeed, during the previous Illiberal Party controlled SaDTC, it was well known that anyone who incurred the wrath of Squire Teflon would find themselves pushed into the black abyss of the D&B Committee.
The Committee had the authority to deal with a number of matters including the use and capacity of the cemeteries; maintenance of the cemeteries, deciding how much any body wanting to be buried should be charged; as well as ensuring proper records of burial and cremation plots are kept. Not exactly life affirming work.
D&B was never a particularly active committee, four meetings were supposed to be held per year, but only one meeting was held per year in 2021 and 2022.
The last meeting was held in March this year but, despite having six committee members, only three councillors bothered to turn up. With the chair Cllr Patsy Knickers missing and so few other councillors in attendance, the three who were there were unable to discuss any items on the agenda, which really only included Cllr Knickers proposal to introduce wildflowers in the cemetery and burial ground.
During the SaDTC Full Council meeting on Monday Councillors were charged with appointing members to each Committee, only Professional Fun Police Officer Cllr Knickers expressed a desire to serve on the D&B Committee and it swiftly became apparent that no one else wanted to join her so, rather than try to flog a dead horse and with very little preamble or discussion, the decision was swiftly made to scrap the committee and move the responsibility to the Finance and Misappropriation Committee.
Whether Cllr Knickers’ proposal to scatter seeds and push up the daisies will ever see the light of day remains to be seen.