PLANS to increase burial and cremation fees in Hyndburn by a quarter have been shelved by Tory councillors after Labour branded the price rise "a tax on the dead".

But Hyndburn Council's ruling Conservative group is set to pay for security patrols at cemeteries without raising council tax bills.

The council has introduced a rise of five per cent to help fund improvements at cemeteries and crematoriums. Burial charges look set to rise from £200 to £210.

A spate of vandal attacks on graves has prompted the council to introduce security guards at the borough's cemeteries.

The policy and resources committee decided the improvements would be funded by dipping into some £211,000 which the council looks set to put back into its cash reserves this year.

The move means that Hyndburn's plans to freeze its portion of the council tax bill remain. But rises imposed by Lancashire County Council and Lancashire Police mean that council tax bills will go up by four-and-a-half per cent.

Band A householders, who make up 61 per cent of the borough's council tax payers, face a £28 increase, taking their bill to £654.97. The plans will be finally approved at a full council meeting on Tuesday, when Labour councillors are expected to unveil their alternative budget.

The security plan is part of a £13,000 scheme which includes improving crematoriums and buying new headstones.

The plans were slammed as "a tax on the dead" by Labour councillors when they were unveiled at a budget committee meeting last month.

Labour group leader Coun Ken Curtis called on the Conservatives to rule out the 25 per cent price rise and said it would hit those least able to pay.

Other plans unveiled by the Conservatives include £50,000 to improve Accrington bus station and a £10,000 grant to Oswaldtwistle-based carers' charity Hyndburn Crossroads.

The tax bill for 2000-2001, subject to confirmation next week, will be: Band A £654.97; Band B £764.14; Band C £873.30; Band D £982.46; Band E £1,200.78; Band F £1,419.11; Band G £1,637.43 Band H £1,964.92.

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.