BURIAL charges could be increased to help fund improvements in safety at cemeteries in Burnley.

Council bosses are set to spend almost £300,000 over the next six years tackling the problem of unsafe memorials in their eight cemeteries.

But cash shortages in the council coffers means an increase in charges could be the only way to pay for the changes.

A burial for anyone aged 13 and over costs £600.

An inspection of Burnley Cemetery by council safety staff last year raised concerns about the number of unsafe memorials and bosses ordered a programme of improvements across the borough to meet demands by the Health and Safety Executive.

Council bosses warned that if safety is not improved they would be left with no choice but to close cemeteries to public access.

The improvement programme, which will cost £47,000 a year for six years, will involve testing 27,000 memorials to see how much weight they can bear.

Any that fail the test will have to be made safe by fixing them with supports or laying them down. Estimates suggest at least 7,000 will fail the test.

Longer term improvements will include repairing monuments of historical interest, on-going testing of memorials and tidying dilapidated graves.

Seven years ago David Crossley, nine, died after a game of hide and seek when a quarter tonne gravestone in Burnley Cemetery toppled onto him.

Graveyards involved are Burnley Cemetery, St John's Cemetery, All Saints with St John the Baptist churchyard, St Leonard's churchyard, St Peter's, Habergham Eaves churchyard, Trinity Towers and Mereclough churchyard.

A council spokesman said: "The council has a responsibility to make cemeteries and graveyards it is responsible for safe both for visitors and the council staff working in them.

"Making them safe incurs a cost that has to be met but no final decision on how that will be done has been made yet."