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The overgrown grass at Park Road Cemetery.
Fury at state of graveyard
by Matt Davis18/ 6/2008
A CHEADLE cemetery has been labelled a ‘disgrace’ by an angry resident who claims it looks like a ‘nuclear blast has hit it’.
The furious resident visited Park Road Cemetery on Father’s Day to see her mother and father’s grave, but was shocked to see overgrown grass reaching two and a half feet in some places.
She added some people had resorted to bringing their own lawn mowers down, while others were on their hands and knees ripping the grass away as elderly people struggled in the long grass.
"My mother’s and father’s grave looks like it has been vandalised," said the angry resident, who wished to remain anonymous. The place was busy but people couldn’t even walk through the grass. You might as well have been stood in a corn field. I have never seen anything like it. Other people were screaming at the gardeners to clear the graves. The whole place looks like a nuclear blast has gone off. It’s a disgrace and makes me not want to go there anymore. I wish I could move my parents’ grave."
Steve Carter, a gardener for the cemetery, echoed the residents’ frustration. He said: "We do not like it being like this. It’s so frustrating for us. We don’t have enough man power, there are about 20 cemeteries and only seven permanent staff.
"Plus, we had our £700 lawn mower stolen on Saturday. We try and do what we can and respond to people’s complaints. The last few years were good, but recently we’ve had staff cut backs and budget cuts and now can’t manage the work."
Sheila Bailey, Labour councillor for Edgeley and Cheadle Heath, was dismayed at the news and said it was another example of the Council’s inability to deal with important issues.
She said: "I think cemeteries are places that need to be maintained properly, this is a very sensitive issue and there shouldn’t be mistakes. It must be exasperating for people."
A Council spokesman said: "The grass is not as long as visitors say, but with the recent spurt in grass growth in perfect conditions in May and June, the grass is longer than normal in those sections less often visited by the public."
"The cemetery is harder to maintain as it was developed with large sections of curved kerbstones and few straight lawned sections. The two site-based staff hand mow or use strimmers to cut the grass. Significant improvements were made to the cemetery over the past three years. Trees and hedges have been pruned, and hundreds of tonnes of topsoil were used to level the ground. Staff work hard to keep the cemetery to a very high standard."
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