118Provisions as to churches and burial grounds
(1)Any land, consisting of a church or other building used or formerly used for religious worship, or the site thereof, or a burial ground, which has been acquired by a Minister, a local planning authority or statutory undertakers under this Part of this Act or compulsorily under any other enactment, or which has been appropriated by a local planning authority for planning purposes, may, subject to the following provisions of this section—
(a)in the case of land acquired by a Minister, be used in any manner by him or on his behalf for any purpose for which he acquired the land ; and
(b)in any other case, be used by any person in any manner in accordance with planning permission,
notwithstanding anything in any enactment relating to churches or such other buildings as aforesaid or to burial grounds or any obligation or restriction imposed under any deed or agreement or otherwise as respects that church or other building or burial ground:
Provided that this subsection shall not have effect as respects any such land as aforesaid until the prescribed requirements with respect to the removal and reinterment of human remains, and the disposal of monuments, in or upon the land have been complied with.
(2)Provision shall be made by any regulations made for the purposes of the proviso to subsection (1) of this section—
(a)for requiring the persons in whom the land is vested to publish notice of their intention to carry out the removal and reinterment of any human remains or the disposal of any monuments;
(b)for enabling the personal representatives or relatives of any deceased person themselves to undertake the removal and reinterment of the remains of the deceased, and the disposal of any monument commemorating the deceased, and for requiring the persons in whom the land is vested to defray the expenses of such removal, reinterment and disposal, not exceeding such amount as may be prescribed;
(c)for requiring compliance with any directions given in any case by the Secretary of State, after consultation with the church authorities in the case of a church or churchyard, with respect to the manner of removal, and the place and manner of reinterment of any human remains, and the disposal of any monuments;
(d)with regard to such incidental and consequential matters (including the closing of registers) as appear to the Secretary of State to be expedient for the purposes of the regulations.
(3)Subject to the provisions of any such regulations, no authority shall be required for the removal and reinterment in accordance with the regulations of any human remains, or for the removal or disposal of any monuments.
(4)Nothing in this section shall be construed as authorising any act or omission on the part of any person which is actionable at the instance of any person on any ground other than contravention of any such enactment, obligation or restriction as is mentioned in subsection (1) of this section.
(5)In this section " burial ground " includes any churchyard, cemetery or other ground, whether consecrated or not, which has at any time been set apart for the purposes of interment, and includes part of a burial ground; and " monument" includes a tombstone or other memorial and any fixtures or furnishings.