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Council foots £3.4m bill for flooded graves

BBC Two women stand with their backs to the camera, looking on at the grave of a loved one. Two gravestones stand before them, decorated with floral tributes. A row of stones sit behind that, then a hedge and a road behind it.BBC
Some families had a second funeral for their loved ones after graves were flooded and their contents were exhumed

South Ayrshire Council has spent almost £3.4m on repairing more than 200 flooded grave sites, BBC Scotland News has learned.

The final cost included the exhumation and reburial of 177 bodies at both Ayr and Troon cemeteries.

Drainage issues were first identified at Ayr Cemetery in 2022, when the local authority told families that 126 plots were waterlogged due to drainage issues.

Flooding was later identified in 87 burial plots within Troon cemetery but only 51 were occupied.

The issue led to two years of extensive restoration work at both sites.

The bodies had to be exhumed and dried out while repairs took place in the cemeteries.

All the deceased, who had all been laid to rest within the last 10 years, have now been reburied in their original grave sites.

South Ayrshire Council has confirmed that all remedial work is now complete.

Repair costs and counselling

The BBC has seen a breakdown of the total cost to the local authority, which includes the repair costs, new coffins, counselling for loved ones affected and services of funeral directors.

The council says it also paid for “specific requests” from family members of those being reburied, including a piper, flowers and flowers for the graveside.

A total of £2.6m was spent on rectifying plots and supporting families at Ayr cemetery. The final cost for Troon cemetery was just under £750,000.

In a statement, South Ayrshire Council told BBC Scotland News: "At the outset, we made a commitment to the affected families that we would do everything possible to resolve any issues with the burial chambers at Ayr and Troon cemeteries.

"We also said to families that we would support them in any way that we could. By working with a number of specialists we have now concluded the works at Ayr and Troon cemeteries.

"We are still in contact with a number of families, and this will continue."

Image of the gates to Troon cemetery - a black sign with gold lettering stands on the left in front of the stone pillars of the gates and the iron gates themselves which are open. The graveyard is seen on the other side.
Graves in Troon cemetery were affected by flooding

The head of South Ayrshire Council previously told BBC Scotland News that the families' wishes when it came to the reburial of their loved ones was his "number one priority".

Previously, some of the family members said they had “no trust” in South Ayrshire Council’s handling of the situation and complained that they had struggled to get responses from the local authority.

In late 2022, as restoration work began at Ayr Cemetery, 20 families refused to give the council permission to exhume their loved ones, in protest.

All families affected eventually agreed but work to repair the plots was delayed as a result.