Scarborough Borough Council (BC) has reiterated its commitment to check headstone safety at the borough’s graveyards after concerns were raised by residents, reports The Scarborough News.
image: for illustration – Thomas Tolkien – Flickr: Scarborough, North Yorkshire. (4 of 7), CC BY 2.0, Wikimedia Commons
… if they pose an immediate safety risk they may be carefully laid down…
The Scarborough News writes:
In June of this year, Scarborough Borough Council announced a safety audit of headstones in three Scarborough cemeteries and one Whitby cemetery.
Some gravestones – deemed unsafe by the inspectors – have even had to be laid flat on the floor.
However, in recent days there have been a number of concerns from residents, while the story has also been covered in national newspapers and on the BBC Radio 2 Jeremy Vine show.
These concerns covered a lack of communication, repair fees and the sensitivity of the audit.
A spokesperson for Scarborough Borough Council said: “A sensitive audit of memorial headstones in our three cemeteries to check they are stable and don’t pose a safety risk… is continuing.
“No headstones have been damaged by our staff and contractors. They are not pushed over but if they pose an immediate safety risk they may be carefully laid down and positioned on the grave face up so that the inscription can still be read…”
