AS co-ordinator of the Pleasington Cemetery Action Group, I urge all concerned people to get a copy of the report compiled by the ICCM directly after the public meeting of September 14, 2007.
This specific report should be readily available from the Cemeteries Office and is headed Cemetery Review Report. Some of the disclosures within certainly give cause for concern, none less than the disclosure that some headstones have been incorrectly assessed.
Were the men deployed to do the testing suitably qualified? Another issue that needs to be clarified by the production of qualification certificates. Do not delay, get your copy today.
Our group have met council officers three times, with no acceptable outcome. Our complaints have now been submitted to the Local Government Ombudsman whose decision is imminent unless the council have not met the already extended deadline.
Councillor Alan Cottam now talks of revised guidelines. Is this supposed to satisfy/pacify relatives whose memorial is now banded and staked?
Are we supposed to be grateful? We are not interested in future testing, Councillor Cottam. We continue to question the way testing was done at Pleasington and the Review Report has certainly given an indication.
Almost 3,000 headstones have failed the test, but not one relative was given the opportunity to attend at testing time. The people who did the work were never monitored and now we learn that they are not to be deployed in future testing. We are, of course, free to guess the reason why.
Coun Cottam has been reported as saying the council is looking at ways to repair the memorials, but not the ones which have already been repaired, of which there are about 500. Is this not discrimination?
What did the notices say which were attached to each stake? It stated the headstone had been found to be unsafe and that the Cemeteries Office would make attempts to contact the owner. It also stated that the work must be done by a qualified monumental mason.
Can the council confirm that no unsafe memorial has been repaired by the owners, as opposed to a qualified Mason, and will the council also confirm that each and every headstone at Pleasington has been tested?
M Whalley, co-ordinator, The Pleasington Cemetery Action Group, Alpine Grove, Blackburn.
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