TOWARDS the end of September last year my father passed away and was interred at Burnley Cemetery When I received the bill from the undertakers I was astounded that the cost of the interment was £801.

This was an enormous increase from the cost of burying my mother only five years previously when it was £575. This seemed an excessive amount.

I contacted the Bereavement Services and received a letter from the head of service, who explained that the current level of fees is a direct result of a council policy that commenced in 1996-7.

At that time it was decided to raise the level of fees for burials in order to reduce the public subsidy of the costs of maintaining cemeteries.

As a result of this policy the cost of burials rose year on year at a rate considerably higher than inflation, sometimes as much as 10 per cent.

Consequently the burial fees now cover 86 per cent of the costs of managing and maintaining the cemeteries. I was also informed that the number of burials is falling and now constitutes only about 13 per cent of bereavements, the remainder being cremations.

These costs are not reflected in neighbouring authorities in East Lancashire, for example, the cost of a burial in the Ribble Valley in December last year was £180. Fees in Wigan, Rossendale and Hyndburn were £405 or less.

I find it despicable that Burnley Council has chosen, with this policy, to garget a group of people who are grieving and therefore vulnerable.

The council accounts show that the crematorium is easily covering its costs whereas the cemetery is not.

Are we to assume that as fewer people chose' burials for their loved ones that 86 per cent of an increasing maintenance cost will cause the burial fees to continue to rise at a spiralling rate?

MARY WHITHAM, Rosehill Mount, Burnley.