A day dedicated to the deceased: for this All Saints’ Day, many inhabitants of Amiens will once again flower the graves of their loved ones. The city mobilizes 300,000 euros each year to maintain cemeteries, because climate change endangers certain structures, explains Olivier Jardé, deputy mayor in charge of civil status and the duty to remember. He is the guest of France Bleu Picardie this Monday morning.
– Morgane Heuclin-Reffait
France Bleu Picardie: In what state are the cemeteries of Amiens today?
Olivier Jardé: “Globally, we put in very large sums every year. Today, we have the major problem of climate change. We have cemeteries made mostly in the 19th century with ash trees that have chalarose and will have to be felled. We also have a majority of Amiens cemeteries which are surrounded by brick walls in poor condition, with hot and cold, and mudslides in those which are sloping, like the Petit Saint-Jean or the Madeleine. The last point is thatwe no longer use phytosanitary products, which the population sometimes finds it difficult to understand: there are weeds in the gravel, so we have a policy of requalifying the paths to grassy lawns.
Beyond maintenance, is there a need for new extensions to cemeteries?
“We have a fairly significant policy of resuming concessions, they are mostly taken for periods of 15 years. We have no notion of a lack of places. We still have land. There was an issue with Muslims during the covid. Before, many were buried in their country, but with the health crisis, transfers of bodies were prohibited. We had a very significant increase in people wishing to be buried in Amiens: from June 2020, we anticipated and made a fairly large plain for the Muslim square in the Saint-Pierre cemetery. There are _a completely new phenomenon: that of cremation, which is increasing enormously_. We have three to four a day, so we have to create colombariums. We do it regularly because there is a strong demand. “
The crematorium has been down for more than a month: do you understand the plight of families?
“Completely. They tell me, and that’s normal. We have a relatively recent crematorium in Amiens, which is less than ten years old. At the beginning of the year, there was a closure for maintenance. a breakdown, a valve that slammed. _We fell back on the outskirts, people can go to Abbeville or Beauvais, but it’s a real problem_. As a bonus, the broken part was not in stock, so that extends the lead time. ”