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Latest News at Torbay
04/01/08
Torquay cemetery featured on
Australian website. The condition of a grave in Torquay cemetery has
been placed on an Australian website by a distraught relative. The grave
was paid for in "perpetutity" in 1940 This should mean that the council
maintains it for 100 years - the length of time the fee was paid for.
This includes keeping the grave tidy and weed free. Travis Burnell was
horrified to see the condition of his family grave. As you can see by
the picture on his website (sent to him by the cemetery!!!) they had to
clear some of the weeds away to even find the grave. Torbay Council has
let us down again. Seems our councillors have spent his money on other
things (Pay rises for themselves again maybe?)
Click here to see
the site.
Pictures
(12/04/07)
6/04/07
Torbay Council Desecrate
Graves For Easter. Graves have been desecrated again by council
workers. One member of the group has reported that plants have been
removed from graves and grass seed scattered over the area. Seems a very
strange thing to do when they are not capable of cutting the grass they
already have! - Why plant more grass on graves that are well cared for
and looked after. Obviously a cared for grave is an embarrassment to the
council so they will not be happy until they turn cared for graves into
the same uncared for mess of the rest of the cemetery.
10/01/07
Double Standards. Torbay Council is still
implementing double standards. Torquay Cemetery and Paignton Cemetery are
both supposed to be "Lawned Cemeteries" But grave owners at Paignton are "Unofficially being allowed to plant graves full length with plants, chippings and kerb stones.
Whereas in Torquay this is still not allowed. How can the council justify the double standards?
Either enforce the rules in both cemeteries or not at all. It is unfare
on the families in Torquay that they are not being allowed to show their
grief on the grave in the same way as the Paignton mourners are.
27/02/06
Dr James Behrens, the
Chancellor of the Diocese of Leicester, has ordered Leicester City
council to pay a repair bill of more than £20,000 for headstone laid
flat in local cemeteries. Torbay Council claims they "have done nothing
wrong" The circumstances are the same and Torbay council should be made
to pay the bill. Only a minority of owners were informed (the council
will not admit how many!), These stones were laid flat without
permission from owners
30/07/05
MP Anthony Steen said yesterday: "In
the case of cemeteries the council should leave well alone. What they are
doing is fiddling while Rome burns.
"I really can't understand what they are up to and this, on top of
everything else they have done, has made Torbay a national laughing
stock."
Paignton mourners to join the group
(17/02/05)
The news from the last working party meeting has angered and upset
mourners at Paignton who are now to join the protest group. The group is
now to be know as the TORBAY Grave Yard Protest Group to reflect the
ongoing problems we face with this uncaring and cruel council now that
they are fully intent on vandalising the grave all around the bay.
Working Party Report
(18/12/04)
The council
having asked for residents views on 14 Dec 2004 sat down at the Town Hall
on 17 Dec 2004 for their latest working party meeting. Input from the
public was item No.4 on the agenda. Before they reached item No.4 they
decided that:
They cannot pay
a Stonemason to repair and properly reinstate any damaged headstones as
the stones are not council property. However, they can convert them to
Monoliths (dig a hole and bury them one third of their height) and, that
is what they intend to do over the next 3 months.
This was decided
because currently the council has to pay rental of £5.00 per month, per
clamp on each headstone. (£5.00 x 400 headstones x 10 months equals
£20,000.00 of tax payers money wasted so far!)
Next the
councillors decided that grave owners that were not obeying the planting
rules had been given enough time and now the council would would start to
take legal action to enforce the rules.
The councillors
had just returned from a visit to Paignton cemetery and debated the fact
that there was still a part of this cemetery that had escaped the 2 foot
planting rule and now was the time to start enforcing it. The grave owners
that are still planting their graves out full length are now about to
receive letters to tell them that they cannot do that anymore.
The Herald
Express story about tendering out the care of the cemetery to private
companies was a rumour and unlikely to happen.
The working
party all agreed that the cemetery is looking good and that they should
not allow a minority to spoil the appearance!
Finally they got
to the public consultation. Letters and emails were quickly flicked
through and dismissed. They all agreed that everything had been covered
and there was nothing to discuss further.
The Chairman of
the cemeteries working party stated on 14 Dec, "We are very keen to get as
much feedback as possible from the public and from professional people as
we carry out our review of the service. For example, the issue of how much
people should be allowed to place plants and other items on their loved
ones' graves is a very sensitive one and we are doing our best to seek a
satisfactory solution".
Why did they ask
for residents opinions on planting when they were obviously not prepared
to discuss it further? They were also not prepared to discuss further the
issue of the total disrespect of walking on a grave or driving a mowing
vehicle over it! (So much for the sensitivity!)
Stonemasons Incompetent
(01/09/04)
The council have been quoted
in the Herald express as saying "Unfortunately, many of the headstones
have been found to be unsafe, due to their incorrect installation." - Does this mean that they are suggesting all
Stonemasons in the area are totally incompetent?
Has any of the local Stonemason got
any comments on this? Please let us know.
The
Laying Of The Headstones
(16/08/04)
Surely now that the
stones have been laid down they are now taking up more than the 2 foot
allowed? breaking the councils rules on how big an area can be used for
planting or the area taken up by a headstone. How will they manage to cut
the grass now?
Will these flowers continue to grow?
They have even put them upside down so that you
cannot read the inscription - Still total disrespect!
At least they have left the grass cuttings on!!
Doesn't it make you feel proud of our cemetery?
This one has passed all the safety tests and is
perfectly ok!!
Maybe the Stonemason set it up like this for a
reason?
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