Bereaved gran distressed as plans for grave refused

Glenis Miller, of the Driveway, said it was her family’s ‘heart’s desire’ to put up a headstone and kerb set in Section B of the cemetery for her husband Andrew Miller.

Having been ‘perfectly well and healthy’, he was diagnosed with brain cancer in July 2015 and died four months later, aged 69.

Mrs Miller said: “When I went to inspect the area, I saw there were kerb sets there. So I naturally assumed I would be able to do the same.

“I don’t like the thought of people being able to walk over my husband’s grave, or a lawn mower going over it.”

However, after placing an order with the stone mason last summer, she was told that kerb sets were not allowed by the council because the area was a lawn site.

But, referring to the kerbs already there, she said “it obviously isn’t”.

This fact was written into the deeds she had received for the plot of land, according to the council.

But Mrs Miller said that – being distressed at the time – she ‘didn’t really take those details in’ and no one had explained it to her.

The mother of four had envisioned a grave similar to her grandson’s lovingly tended grave at Worthing cemetery, adding: “When you have lost a loved one, it means an awful lot to have a special place to remember them.”

Her complaint comes after the Herald reported another Mill Lane mourner’s horror at finding her parents’ grave turfed over.

Andy Edwards, head of environment at Adur and Worthing Council, said kerb sets had not been permitted in Section B since 2000.

He said: “There are other areas where kerb sets are permitted, but the deceased’s wife chose the lawn cemetery at the time of her late husband’s interment.”

The council would be happy to consider a memorial appropriate for the lawn section, he said.

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