Contrary to some reports about the way the Town Council would deal with unsafe memorials, there has been no change recently in the way that the Council will deal with unsafe memorials.

The Town Council started testing the memorials in its Cemetery three years ago. It also started removing unauthorised objects in the Cemetery to make sure that those objects did not cause a danger to Groundstaff and users of the Cemetery.

A year ago, the Town Council adopted a policy that required all new memorials to comply with the latest NAMM construction standards.

Where the Council believes that a headstone is not completely safe, that headstone will, in accordance with national best practice, be provided with additional support.

The Council will then try to contact relatives before taking any further action, only after this route has been taken will the Council be considering the possibility of laying down headstones.

In consecrated parts of the Cemetery a faculty would have to be obtained from the Diocesan office in Winchester before any headstone can be laid down.

Some observers have suggested that the ancient headstones are likely to require early attention. “That” says Cllr Light  “is generally not true. Older headstones have one third of their volume buried underground and they are therefore structurally safer than some of the more modern ones, which are glued or cemented onto a concrete slab just below ground level.

It is some of these newer headstones that are causing the most concern. It was for that reason that the Town Council adopted the NAMM standards two years ago”.

Notwithstanding the Town Council’s sensitive approach, owners of the headstones are responsible for ensuring that they are maintained to a safe standard.

Relatives should always, therefore, carry out visual inspections of headstones of their loved ones whenever they visit the Cemetery.