Keep up to date – and join the debate
VERTICAL BLINDS
3 FOR
£89 SALE 046 1502
Tel: 0800
www.facebook.com/ThePressNews
01274 305 410
ONE PAPER ... ALL THE NEWS from Dewsbury, Batley, Ossett, Mirfield, Liversedge, Birstall, Heckmondwike, Cleckheaton & Spen Valley
New mosque to transform residential neighourhood
Friday April 14, 2017
GUARANTEE
No. 785
50p
‘Don’t bother saving up for old age!’
Rams hero Kelly rides to rescue
p3
12 MONTHS
SPORT
FORUM
‘DESECRATION’
Families’ anger as graveyard memorials are pulled down in the name of health and safety KIRKLEES Council staff have been accused of desecrating graves in local authority-run cemeteries. A team of Kirklees personnel is reported to be patrolling the graveyards “pressure-testing” headstones and memorials – some as small as 14 inches high – to see if they can withstand 150kg of force. If they can’t, the memorials are pulled down and left laying over the grave – all in the name of health and safety rules. But a former health and safety consultant who went to visit his father’s grave at Liversedge cemetery says the situation is “totally ridiculous”. David Griffiths, of Cleckheaton, had been walking his dogs and went to visit his father’s grave in the Clough Lane cemetery. He said: “I noticed that some of the gravestones were laid flat and some of them severely damaged. “The grave next to my father’s was an ornate one but that was laid down and destroyed.” Mr Griffiths rang a helpline number on the gate of the cemetery to find out what was going on. “They (the helpline) said to me it was because of health and safety; if
Memorials in Clough Lane cemetery, Liversedge, have been laid flat by Kirklees Council workmen the gravestones are wobbly, then they needed to be laid flat. I think the risk assessment is flawed,” he said. “It seems as though they are
doing an open risk assessment for the entire area rather than per cemetery. “Yes, some of them (the gravestones) are quite old but it still isn’t
a reason to lay them down. The logic is a bit crazy – why not just re-fit them? Mr Griffiths added: “I was told they were going to be doing it all
through Kirklees, and it is happening elsewhere, but they need to let people know before doing it.” When The Press visited the cemetery on Tuesday, one woman visiting her mother’s grave said she thought it had been vandalised. “Mum’s grave isn’t that old and it’s only a small, standard-sized stone, not even waist high,” she said. “It looks like the grave’s been desecrated. “It’s just laid down haphazardly on her plot – and it’s not a health and safety threat to anyone, unless they’re trying to damage or steal it. “This is a beautiful cemetery, but just look at this mess. It looks like a row of fallen soldiers.” Dozens of quite modern headstones have been pulled down by council workers with warning signs on others that they are about to be dismantled. Funeral director and stonemason Neil Brooke, of Dewsbury family funeral directors George Brooke Ltd, said there’s a complete lack of common sense. “They’ve gone over the top with it,” said Mr Brooke. “It seems they don’t care about the upset they are causing to people and families.
Continued on Page 2
We will arrange everything for your convenience DRIVERS ADS approved instructors Call Our CPC PERIODIC Fantastic pass rates FREE TRAINING Training available 7 days per week Helpline COURSES CAR & Lessons can be taken in blocks
Obtain Your HGV or PCV Licence With Ease Use The Professionals Over 30 Years’ Experience Instructions On All Aspects Of Driving
TRAILER (B+E) 8hr course
of 4 hours One-to-one tuition Personal and friendly service
0800 089 6060
01274 686 211 www.atkinlgv.net
Tel:
Main Training Site (2 minutes from junction 27 M62), Llamedos Stables, 119 Fieldhead Lane, Drighlington