General Cemetery Act 2025: changes at Kensal Green

Parliament has passed the General Cemetery Act 2025, dated 27 October 2025. It updates how Kensal Green Cemetery and the West London Crematorium are owned and run, and it sets new rules for long‑unused graves. If you care for a plot, or teach local history, this is your guide.

A quick origin story helps. The General Cemetery Company was created by Parliament in 1832 to build a new cemetery for London. Further powers followed in 1839 and again in 1937 when cremation was added. The new Act, published on legislation.gov.uk, refreshes those Victorian laws in today’s terms and tidies up the Company’s structure and powers.

Ownership and management will move from the Company to a new charity. The charity’s legally required primary objects are to keep the cemetery and crematorium open to the public, conserve monuments and buildings, preserve archives, and educate the public about the site and those buried there. These purposes must remain in place for as long as the charity owns the site.

The handover happens on an appointed day set by the Company, but only after the Charity Commission has registered the new body. On that day, the land, the crematorium and related rights and liabilities transfer to the charity. Staff protections under TUPE still apply, and a Land Registry restriction locks in the requirement that the owner must be a charity. What it means: the site is intended to be run for public benefit, not private profit.

Once in place, the charity can manage the site in the usual ways. It may grant licences and easements and offer leases, although business and assured tenancy security does not apply to those leases. Any disposal of land has to follow the Charities Act 2011. Responsibility can be transferred in future, but only to another charity and with the charitable purposes intact.

Byelaws will set the day‑to‑day rules for visitors and for how burials are conducted. These byelaws need confirmation by the Secretary of State after local notice, a month of public inspection and publication on the operator’s website. Breaching a byelaw can be an offence at level 3 on the standard scale. Older nineteenth‑century ‘nuisance’ offences are repealed once the first new byelaws come into force.

Now to the part most families ask about: unused burial rights. If a grave has not been used for 75 years, the operator can extinguish the right of burial-but only after a formal notice process. Rights granted after 27 October 2025 for a period longer than 75 years cannot be extinguished using this mechanism.

You can object. If the registered owner objects before the date in the notice, the right cannot be extinguished. Others may object too; in those cases the operator would need the Secretary of State’s consent to proceed. If a right is extinguished, the owner then has six months to choose agreed compensation or a written revival of the right. If you disagree about value, a single arbitrator can be appointed through the President of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors.

The Act also permits the disturbance and reinterment of human remains to create space where the right has been extinguished or has expired, or where the grave is a public or common grave. No remains may be disturbed if they have been interred for fewer than 75 years. Reburial must happen within Kensal Green, either back in the same grave or in another grave within the cemetery.

Relatives and registered owners can object to disturbance, and if they do, the operator cannot proceed. A fresh attempt can only be made after 25 years, with a new notice, and only if no new objection is made or an objection is withdrawn. For non‑consecrated ground, the operator must follow any directions from the Secretary of State on how removal and reinterment are carried out.

There are safeguards you should know. Commonwealth war burials and war memorials are protected: nothing can happen without the written agreement of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission. Disturbance in consecrated ground needs a faculty from the consistory court of the Diocese of London, which will hear any objections. Working with Historic England and the local councils, the operator can designate protected graves and must keep a free public record of them.

Notices matter. Proposals to extinguish a right or disturb remains must be advertised twice in a local newspaper, posted online on the operator’s website, displayed at the cemetery entrances and, where possible, near the grave itself. Notices are also served to the registered addresses of right‑holders and memorial owners, and to the Commonwealth War Graves Commission and Historic England. There must be at least six clear months between the last publication or service and the date proposed for action. What it means: if you are a registered owner, keeping your address up to date really counts.

Memorials can be moved if a right is extinguished or if remains are to be disturbed. The memorial still belongs to its owner, who has six months to claim it after removal. If it is not claimed, the operator may reuse it appropriately or dispose of it. The operator must publish a clear policy on memorials and keep detailed records of inscriptions, new locations and any disposal, depositing a copy with the Registrar General. Records about disturbed remains and removed memorials must be free to inspect.

Behind the scenes, the Act modernises the Company’s legal footing. The Company can adopt the Companies Act 2006 model articles and register as a company without changing its historic name, and registration does not disrupt existing rights or court cases. The old 1832 Act is updated so the operator can set aside space for different faiths-or for a burial without any service-extend grants for up to 75 years, and keep an open register of burial rights and assignments. Clearing unsafe or illegible memorials still needs listed building consent where the memorial is protected.

The geography matters too. Kensal Green sits across the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham and the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, with the cemetery and crematorium on Harrow Road, W10 4RA. Local planning authorities and Historic England are formally involved in decisions about protected graves to ensure consistent oversight.

Timings are staggered. Most of the Act starts 28 days after Royal Assent, which sets general commencement at 24 November 2025. Provisions tied to the Company registering under the Companies Act start on the day of that registration. Some repeals only take effect when the first new byelaws are confirmed and commence. Keep an eye on the operator’s website and the London Gazette for the appointed day notice.

If you look after a grave, three practical steps help. First, make sure the register shows the right person as owner and that your postal and email addresses are current. Second, keep any deeds or letters you have about the plot where you can find them quickly if a notice arrives. Third, if you think a grave should be protected for historic reasons, you can ask the operator, Historic England or the relevant council to consider that status. For war graves, start with the Commonwealth War Graves Commission.

This is sensitive law because it touches memory, faith and space in a crowded city. London needs burial space; families need predictability and respect; our shared history needs care. The Act tries to balance those aims with long notice periods, clear rights to object, and strong protections for war graves, consecrated sections and listed memorials. As the charity forms and byelaws are drafted, we will keep reading the fine print with you.