Burial, bin and wedding fees to rise in Bucks as council faces ‘tough’ decisions

Fees for burials, new bins and wedding ceremonies are all set to rise as part of Buckinghamshire Council’s proposed budget for 2025/26.

Charges for the use of sports facilities, planning applications and road closures for filmmaking are also among the increased costs.

The above prices and hundreds of others were agreed by cabinet, the council’s decision-making executive, during a meeting on Thursday.

Council leader Martin Tett set out major spending in areas such as road repairs, but acknowledged the cost of services provided by his authority would also have to rise.

He said: “I hope that demonstrates the focus on residents’ priorities but counterbalanced by some tough decisions on income and charges and also cuts. And they will impact on people.”

The draft budget, including the schedule of fees and charges and a proposed 4.99 per cent council tax rise, will still need to be agreed by full council in February.

The 147-page financial plan says council income from ‘customers and clients’ is increased each year through a review of fees and charges.

In the 2025/26 draft budget, the council says these charges are generally increasing 5 per cent ‘to keep pace with increases in the costs of delivering these activities’.

However, some of the rises are greater than this, including among the council’s top 10 most significant sources of income.

These include an 11.1 per cent rise for registrar fees, 10.6 for household recycling centre charges, 6.5 for adult social care client charges and 5.3 for planning fees.

In the full list of fees and charges approved by cabinet, several current burial costs for 2024/25 are set to become more expensive from April.

For example, earthen grave burials rise from £1,061 to £1,114.00, pre-burial refreshments from £45 minimum (£5 per head) to £60 minimum and a one-hour weekday service at Chilterns Milton Chapel from £945 to £1,150.

Meanwhile, the prices of several urns are frozen, although some commemorative options rise, such as the children’s ‘over the rainbow’ plaque, which goes from £450 to £495.

Wedding charges are also set to rise, with a venue licence fee going from £2,480 to £2,604 and a civil partnership combined with a ceremony from £1,029 to £1,080, while a statutory register office fee remains £56.

Sport is another area with some rising fees and charges, with the cost of renting a football pitch for adults in Wycombe to go from £44 to £46, while a full round of golf on the South Buckinghamshire Golf Course will rise to £35 from £33.

Other fee increases see a new 240 litre wheelie bin and delivery go from £42 to £44.10 and an order to close a road for over 24 hours for filming from £3,243 to £3,405.15.

Parking fees at council car parks across the county have already been increased this financial year following a review.

The council said: “Many of the activities which the council is able to charge for are controlled by regulation and or statute.

“In some cases, this is on the basis that we can recover our costs through charging and for others an absolute value of the charge allowable is set.”

The full list of fees and charges is available here: shorturl.at/NQZ2s