Thousands to be spent repairing Oswestry headstones

Unsafe memorials at Oswestry cemetery are being repaired by the town council, at a cost of thousands of pounds. Many other Shropshire cemeteries have seen unsafe headstones laid on the ground until the families repair them.

But Oswestry Town Council has decided to spend £20,000 on making sure that 600 memorials comply with health and safety legislation.

The money is being taken from the council's funding reserves.

In cemeteries in other parts of Shropshire, the authorities who have responsibility for the graveyards have taped off headstones that fail a "wobble" test to see if they could fall onto people. Other headstones deemed dangerous have been laid onto the ground to prevent accidents.

Oswestry town councillor Martin Bennett said the council had carried out a significant number of improvements since taking over the management of the cemetery in 2008.

A shelter was provided last year for visitors to use in bad weather. Heating has also been installed in the cemetery chapel.

"Floral planters have been positioned around the site and memorial trees have been planted in the current burial site," Councillor Bennett said. "The town council is beginning the task of electronically listing all the old burial records, some 23,000 of them. This will make the management and research of graves a much faster process," he said.

To help fund all the improvements the town council has now privately let the cemetery lodge.