Drainage work to stop Ludlow’s cemetery flooding has started this week and should prevent any future damage to the graveyard during heavy rain.

The work, which started on Monday and should last three weeks, will cost about £7,000.

SJ Weaver Ltd has been contracted and the work is being carried out on the footpaths of the Henley Road cemetery and will not disrupt any graves.

The money for the project has been raised through council tax, which went up by just over seven per cent this year to help pay for the capital projects in the town.

The council also increased burial costs this year from £270 to £370 and ashes interments from £80 to £180 in line with Shropshire Council rates.

Councillor Martin Taylor-Smith said the move would help cover the near £40,000 maintenance costs and the drainage works.

Paul Hughes, the architect appointed to over see capital projects for the council, said the graveyard was prone to run-off after heavy rain and the work was necessary to prevent and solve this.

He said: “The cemetery is fully operational and the work hasn’t disrupted any burials. If it did rain, it has been hard to get the rain water out of the graves.

“We are installing a system of land drainage to act as a soakaway so flooding will be a thing of the past.

“There will be no disruption and people can still access the graves as before.”