Rushden woman's dispute with council over grave decorations in town cemetery 'distressing' as rules change to accomodate routine maintenance

Julie Watkins has decorated her late husband’s grave with ornaments and decorations in his memory, but has been instructed by Rushden Town Council to remove them.

The council insists that ‘excessive’ items placed around graves means it is difficult to maintain them effectively, and they are ‘not in-keeping with the overall appearance of the cemetery.’

Julie had been instructed to clear the area within 21 days of a letter on April19, and the council insists that all graves are being dealt with individually, but she says the council shouldn’t be removing items because ‘they’ve left it too long’ to enforce the rules.

In a letter penned to the council, she said: “I appreciate how difficult it must be for the council to approach grave owners regarding this matter.

"However, I feel the council is not showing compassion towards existing grave owners, many of whom are breaching cemetery regulations, as the majority in section T date back to 2016. Why has this situation been overlooked for so long?

"You cannot expect people to remove items which have been in situ for eight plus years.”

Rushden Town Council states that graves are breaching the rules if they have shrubs growing to an excessive height, if there are wood, concrete or metal edgings around the grave, the presence of unauthorised ornaments, excessive planting, artificial grass or excessive solar lighting on the plot.

The town council took on the management of the cemetery when it was formed in 2000, and manage the purchase of all graves within the area.

Sections H, L, P, R, S, T and W are a part of the lawn cemetery, which gives the appearance of a lawn, allowing ‘easy access to mowing and other maintenance.’

The Rushden Town Council cemetery guidelines dictate that memorials such as headstones and flower vases may only be erected with the permission of the council and are subject to compliance with the cemetery regulations.

Contractors are brought in to maintain the space, but Julie questions the effectiveness of this, as she believes her mother-in-law’s grave ‘is yet to be cut and looks a disgrace.’

Julie added: “It’s been three years since John died and those have been on there since he died.

“It’s a complete mess.”

Her late husband, John, died in early 2021 during the Covid pandemic, and as the family was unable to say goodbye as they would have hoped, they instead decided to make John’s grave unique, only to be told that, alongside others who have purchased a plot in the cemetery, they had three weeks to remove any restricted items.

In response, Paul Wilcox, contracts and assets manager of Rushden Town Council, said: “We are aware this is a sensitive issue and have tried to be understanding to grave owners regarding this sensitive subject.

"However Newton Road Cemetery is a lawned cemetery and the majority of grave owners complied with the results we felt the need to enforce the rules with the minority who were not complying with the rules.

"Letters were sent to all non-compliant grave owners and a three week period of time was given to allow grave owners to remove items and then enable us to turf the graves, unfortunately the majority of grave owners did not comply.

"Leaving us no other option than to remove the items in breach of the cemetery regulations and then we have turfed the graves.”