Sheffield Muslim Burials: Council commits to drainage for future graves in flooded Shiregreen Cemetery

In May, The Star reported how the Islamic community of Sheffield lived in dread of seeing their loved ones buried in Shiregreen Cemetery.

Evidence showed the ground was completely soaked. Digging just six inches into the ground would see water welling up, and graves dug in preparation for burials quickly filled with three-feet-deep water.

It caused ceaseless trauma for Muslims with family and friends buried in the north east quarter of Shiregreen, where bodies are inhumed in hollow concrete vaults that leave a cavity around the coffin - which left families with the mental image of their loved ones “drowning,” “swimming”, and being “buried in a bathtub.”

A campaign against it has been led by the Sheffield Muslim Burial Council. One member, Iqra Besharat, told The Star she has visited Shiregreen every day since losing her father a year ago.

She said: “Seeing the ground so waterlogged every day has been so distressing. You don’t stop thinking about it. It makes you want to come every day, because if you don’t you feel like you’re leaving your loved ones to it, like you’re failing them. The thought of it has kept me from going away or taking holidays.

“I’ve come to my father’s grave on some days and found the ground on his plot has ‘shifted’ from water moving through it. It’s so upsetting to see.

“I’m not the only one who comes here every day. We all feel the same.”

Now, after months of campaigning, the community have claimed a significant victory.

The city council last week confirmed all graves going forward will be fitted with pipes to drain water into a ‘soakaway’ at the furthest end of the cemetery. When The Star visited Shiregreen Cemetery on November 28, work crews were digging a new set of graves with a six-inch ribbed hard plastic pipe running down the centre.

However, Shakil Ahmed of the SMBC, which has led the call for the new drainage, said there is more to be done.

He said: “Collectively, it’s a sigh of relief in the community, to know we have been heard and action has been taken.

“We haven’t asked for anything special, just that our loved ones aren’t left in flooded graves.

“The next battle is to see a commitment to draining existing graves, which are still waterlogged and where the new pipes will not help.”

Shakil said the group is now appealing for similar pipes to be installed underground between the rows of graves to drain the existing plots.

A side effect of the new drainage is that graves in the Muslim quarter will be approximately two-to-three feet shallower. Shakil said this aspect has been introduced “without consultation” with the community.

Concerns were also raised how the new drainage would affect the fees families paid for burials. The Star has contacted Sheffield City Council with enquiries.

It comes as a 7,000-signature petition was recently put to the council by the South Yorkshire Muslim Bereavement Trust over the “rapidly depleting” number of available burial spaces in Sheffield, particularly for Muslims.

Speaking on the drainage issue, Councillor Kurtis Crossland, Chair of the Communities, Parks and Leisure Policy Committee, said: “We are acting on this important issue and want to reassure all our communities that we want to provide a compassionate, dignified, and respectful provision for everyone. We continue to work with the Environment Agency, local residents, and the members of the Sheffield Muslim Bereavement Partnership Forum.

“We’re working on plans to redirect some surface water to prevent it from reaching the whole burial plot by improving drainage and providing new, concrete-lined graves.

“These concrete-lined graves can pose an additional challenge as the concrete acts as a barrier, effectively holding water that would otherwise continue to flow away through the ground. Therefore, these new graves are being installed on a bed of permeable pea gravel which will allow water to easily flow through into a drainage channel leading to a natural soakaway.

“It is normal for pre-dug empty graves to collect some water in the bottom during periods of wet weather. Where necessary, graves are pumped and prepared for a dignified burial shortly before the funeral takes place. With regards to claims that water is coming from ‘below graves’, when new graves are dug, at no point is the water table being hit, a position which has now been reaffirmed by the recent ground water survey investigation and which is consistent with the British Geological Survey Infiltration maps for this location. If this was to happen, the burial plot would not be used.

“Whilst this work is progressing, we have made several changes to reassure those who have concerns, including providing same day digging on weekdays where possible, and prioritising graves in the higher part of the burial plot.”