Published: Wednesday, 29th May 2024
172 cemetery memorials at high risk of falling over are to be made safe by specialists from next week (w/c 3 June).
This follows testing of memorials in the council’s operational cemeteries and the Diocese’s closed churchyards last year.
Assistant Director of Operations and Commercial Services, Martin Chisholm, said:
“We are obliged to check these memorials and, where necessary, to make them safe.
“Where we have identified that a memorial is at risk of falling, we have made every effort to contact grave owners and we have given people time to undertake remedial works.
“We now plan to lay down the remaining 172 high-risk memorials but I would like to assure people that it will be done in a careful and respectful manner.”
The lower-risk memorials will be monitored by the council’s qualified staff until the next round of formal testing, due to take place in 2028.