A Blackburn woman has hit out at the council after complaining that graves at Pleasington Cemetery have been left "unmaintained".

Virginia Eastwood returned to the plot at the site where both her parents were buried, to scatter the ashes of her brother who died in August.

After arriving at the site, she said she was shocked to see the rose garden which backs onto her parents' graves was "completely overrun with weeds" and claimed the grass had not been cut in a "substantial amount of time".

Blackburn with Darwen Council said it wrote to Virginia last month and that the grass was cut two days after her visit.

It added the grass is cut a minimum of five teams a year, with beds set to be tidied in the coming weeks.

Virginia said: “The rose garden has gone and there was a cross outline; it hasn’t been maintained at all.

"It was just like we were spreading ashes on a bit of ground, it has just been neglected."

Virginia added that other sections of the site had in her view received a better quality of maintenance, and she felt that the older areas had been "forgotten".

She said: “We looked around the rest of the cemetery and it is well maintained.

"It should be maintained to the same level everywhere and it is not fair just because it is an older section.

"It is only a matter of mowing the grass and doing a bit of weeding; they completely neglected the whole area.

“We pay our council tax, so they should maintain it to the same standard. It is not fair, just because it is an older section doesn’t mean it should be forgotten.

Virginia said she has written to Blackburn with Darwen Council, dropping her letter off at Blackburn Town Hall, to raise her concerns about the issue with the authority.

However she said she has yet to receive a response to her complaint, and said her letter has not even been acknowledged.

She added: “I haven’t had an acknowledgement of the letter.

"The women in reception told me that they take the letters up every day, so they obviously have the letter.”

Martin Eden, strategic director for environment and operations at Blackburn with Darwen Council, said: "Our feedback team received the letter from Mrs Eastwood on September 25.

"Unfortunately, there was a delay in processing this, which we apologise for.

"An acknowledgement was sent to Mrs Eastwood on October 23, and a full response has since been sent in the post from the relevant team at the Cemetery.

"We sympathise with Mrs Eastwood’s comments regarding Plot G at Pleasington Cemetery.

"However, due to the team being very small and having many responsibilities, including burials and maintenance of all cemeteries across the borough, they have a set schedule for maintenance to ensure a balanced approach is taken.

"The grass is cut at Pleasington a minimum of five times per year, with more frequent cuts taken in the summer if possible.

"The grass was last cut the week of September 23, two days after the letter was received from Mrs Eastwood. The Garden of Remembrance beds are also maintained a minimum of two times per year.

"Although some beds have already been maintained recently, we have around five more to do ahead of the winter. Our team will prioritise these in the coming weeks."