£25,000 to put right blunder

WORK to reinstate hundreds of gravestones knocked over in Seaford Cemetery is due to begin.

However, despite the flattening of 450 monuments in Seaford and Lewes cemeteries by Lewes District Council during safety checks only 143 relatives of the deceased have been traced or come forward.

They have been given the choice of arranging a mason to reinstate the headstone, and receive reimbursement, or allow the council to do so on their behalf. A sum of 25,000 has been earmarked for the total cost.

Speaking at a meeting of the Lewes District Council committee created to investigate the saga, on Wednesday, community services manager Owen Clifford said: 'The first phase to reinstate the memorials of people who have come forward should be completed within the next month.'

The council was forced to act after it conducted the so-called topple test without informing relatives. People were shocked after finding their loved ones' monument knocked over and assumed it was vandalism.

The council initially argued it had placed warning notices in the graveyards, but eventually bowed to public outcry and agreed to pay up.

The case of a boy being killed by a falling monument in the North of England three years ago was given as the reason why the safety tests were necessary.

At Wednesday's meeting councillors also discussed new guidelines for the erecting of monuments in council graveyards.

However, they were warned that a method of setting the gravestone in a one-metre wide concrete step to make it more stable had resulted in problems for Worthing Borough Council. After it set the rule it was forced to pay 5,000 in damages when a visitor fell over one of the steps and was injured.

Councillors agreed that it would be necessary to investigate and set clear guidelines for the setting of new free-standing headstones so as avert the dangers of modern, less-stable, designs.

Older gravestones have been found to be more solid as up to a third of their length is under ground.

Cllr Julian Peterson said: 'I think it is sheer folly funeral directors' continue putting up the same type of memorial they have been putting up in the past 30 years.'

Councillors also agreed that in the event of future safety testing the public should be warned six weeks in advance via the media and the council's magazine District Link.