{"id":397747,"date":"2026-01-30T00:06:09","date_gmt":"2026-01-30T00:06:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/397747\/"},"modified":"2026-01-30T00:06:09","modified_gmt":"2026-01-30T00:06:09","slug":"plans-to-improve-abc-councils-important-cemetery-service-welcomed-armagh-i","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/397747\/","title":{"rendered":"Plans to improve ABC Council\u2019s \u2018important\u2019 cemetery service welcomed \u2013 Armagh I"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<img width=\"1738\" height=\"1064\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Kernan-Cemetery.jpg\" class=\"attachment- size- wp-post-image\" alt=\"Kernan Cemetery\" decoding=\"async\" fetchpriority=\"high\"  \/>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<p>Five new performance improvement objectives have been set out by <a href=\"https:\/\/armaghi.com\/category\/news\/armagh-news\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Armagh<\/a>, Banbridge and Craigavon Borough Council for the next year and Councillors are particularly impressed to see betterment of Council\u2019s cemetery services on the list.<\/p>\n<p>The new draft objectives were outlined to members at a Governance, Resources and Strategy Committee meeting recently. <\/p>\n<p>At the meeting members were informed that \u2013 in line with the statutory duty to put in place arrangements for continuous improvement \u2013 the Council is required to develop and publish a Performance Improvement Plan (PIP), by 30 June.<\/p>\n<p>As a published document, the PIP outlines and explains what Council hopes to achieve, how they plan to deliver it and how citizens\/other stakeholders will be better off as a result.<\/p>\n<p>A draft PIP for the period 2026\/27 \u2013 including five new Performance Improvement Objectives \u2013 was issued to members for their consideration and input. This will then progress to a consultation period spanning eight weeks before the final report will be published in June.<\/p>\n<p>The five objectives included that Council will aim to reduce the average number of days sickness absence lost per employee; reduce Council\u2019s environmental impact through the development and implementation of a Climate and Sustainability Action Plan; improve Waste Management Services through the implementation of technological solutions and continued communication; improve the Council\u2019s Cemetery Service to ensure a safe, high quality, customer-focused, and resilient bereavement service; and improve on recruitment processes to ensure vacancies are filled in a timely manner.<\/p>\n<p>Having considered the objectives outlined, Cllr Keith Haughian offered to propose the draft plan, with praise for the measures put forward: \u201cI am happy to propose that.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThose five points are pretty much bang on. I\u2019d be surprised if there was much difference in the chamber. I think they\u2019re pretty much \u2013 four of them certainly \u2013 I would have definitely had on the list so I\u2019m happy to propose tonight. Thank you for the work involved.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Seconding, Cllr Julie Flaherty noted objective four as being particularly welcome: \u201cI am more than happy to second Cllr Haughian\u2019s proposal.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI am really happy to see objective four included, I think that is a timely intervention there, \u2018We will improve Council cemetery service\u2019. This is one of our core Council services that has been, maybe, underrated perhaps, I would say.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat I see there are very sensible\u2026 me being me I would like to have seen it quicker\u2026 but I\u2019m realistic enough to know that it\u2019s a very big and important service in Council so great to see that and happy to second.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Cllr Flaherty appeared to have taken the words out of Cllr Peter Lavery\u2019s mouth as he too joined in support of objective four: \u201cI suppose myself and Cllr Flaherty are on the same wavelength tonight.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI was just going to come in and make similar comments. It\u2019s a really important service that needs to function perfectly, 100% of the time and I know since the new Heads of Department came in there has been a lot of studies in this sector regarding the cemeteries and everything associated with it.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt is very positive to see this getting up the agenda a wee bit to get a bit of progress on some of the outstanding issues in that sector. It is very good and I concur with Cllr Flaherty.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>&#13;<br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tSign Up To Our Newsletter&#13;<br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t&#13;\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t&#13;<br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tMost read today&#13;<br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t&#13;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Five new performance improvement objectives have been set out by Armagh, Banbridge and Craigavon Borough Council for the&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":397748,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[43],"tags":[27341,390,27340,102,2960,913,50,101,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-397747","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-healthcare","tag-armagh-city","tag-breaking-news","tag-county-armagh","tag-health","tag-healthcare","tag-latest-news","tag-news","tag-sports","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/397747","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=397747"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/397747\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/397748"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=397747"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=397747"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=397747"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}