BURIAL charges and hire costs at the town hall and Recreation Ground in Fordingbridge are to rise.

Fordingbridge Town Council’s general purposes and amenities committees reviewed the charges at meetings held on March 21. The recommendations were approved by the finance and policy committee last week.

Burial charges at St Mary’s churchyard and Stuckton Road Cemetery will see a rise, with the interment of ashes for residents increasing to £140 and £275 for the interment of a body - a rise of £5 for both.

There will also be a £5 rise in the cost of purchasing a grave space or cremation plot, which are now £355 and £180 respectively.

Cllr Edward Hale, speaking at the general purposes and amenities committee meeting, said: “We decided we ought to keep increasing the charges. This looks a reasonable amount, otherwise it just gets left behind.”

Cllr Connolly said the increase was only a “small amount”.

Cllr Hale added: “We have done a comparison with others and we are still fairly competitive.”

The hiring cost of the main hall in Fordingbridge Town Hall will increase by £1, to £38 to hire in the morning or afternoon, £66 for a full day and £46 for the evening.

The commercial rate will increase by £10 to £150. For badminton clubs the cost of sessions will rise by 50p, to £27, and for art clubs there will be a rise of £1, to £43 a day.

Cllr Hale said: “We have been increasing them year by year.”

The amenities committee, which met after the general purposes committee, discussed charges for hiring the Recreation Ground.

Charges were increased by £1 for groups including football and rugby clubs (£51), whippet track (£36 for the day and £21 for evening) and cricket (£51).

Cllr Paul Anstey said: “This is just a steady flow increase. As you can see from the list it is £1 across the board just to tick it over.”

The daily rate for tournaments will be £115 or £60 for a half day - an increase of £5. And commercial use of the Recreation Ground will increase by £10 to £260 per day.