Wolverhampton council rethinks plan to introduce premium on wider graves

The fee, which critics had branded a ‘fat tax’, would have seen a cemetery charge an extra 20% for a 6ft-wide plot compared to the standard 5ft

A council has decided against introducing a premium on wider burial plots in Wolverhampton following condemnation that it was a “fat tax”.

Danescourt cemetery in Tettenhall had planned to charge an extra 20% to families whose loved ones need a 6ft-wide plot, as opposed to a standard 5ft grave. Wolverhampton council previously said the higher charge was in response to an increase in obesity levels in the Midlands city, where a third of people are obese, compared with the national average of just over a quarter.