‘Disrespectful’ yellow ‘unsafe memorial’ tags caught on gravestones

Furious villagers have blasted a ‘disrespectful’ council for sticking yellow ‘unsafe memorial’ tags on dozens of gravestones in a picturesque churchyard.

The vibrant yellow warning tags have been wrapped round 37 headstones, a few of them model new, at St Clement’s Church within the fairly Terrington St Clement, in Norfolk. 

Pictures present scores of gravestones with tags connected to a chunk of rope wrapped across the gravestone with daring black writing that reads: ‘WARNING. Unsafe Memorial. Please don’t try to take away this label. Please name the cemetery workplace for additional data.’ 

Angry villagers have laid into King’s Lynn and West Norfolk Borough Council saying it’s well being and security ‘gone mad’.

West Norfolk Borough Council inspected 5 cemeteries and located 900 of 8,000 memorials ‘wanted consideration’ to make them secure.  

The vibrant yellow warning tags have been wrapped round 37 headstones, a few of them model new, at St Clement’s Church within the fairly Terrington St Clement, in Norfolk

Pictures present scores of gravestones with tags connected to a chunk of rope wrapped across the gravestone with daring black writing

Angry villagers have laid into King’s Lynn and West Norfolk Borough Council saying it’s well being and security ‘gone mad’

Many locals had been shocked to see the yellow tags on their family members’ gravestones, a lot of which are not even wobbly, with one solely being erected final 12 months.

The notices ask kinfolk to get in contact with the council, who say they’ve an obligation of care to maintain the graveyard secure.

Local resident Michael Lister wrote on Facebook: ‘Many individuals will not be conscious that because the Parish Church churchyard was closed to future burials the accountability of its upkeep has been transferred to the Borough Council.

‘This morning while visiting there I observed that with its “duty of care” to the general public it has lately visited and inspected the headstones.

‘A large number of them, primarily on the south facet of the church now have notices connected to them advising that they’re unstable and should not be touched.

‘This is step one earlier than they return at a later date and lay the headstones flat. Visually to me it appeared that, while some had been certainly unstable, some seemed to be simply sinking to at least one facet.

‘Most aren’t “historic” stones and will need to have kinfolk nonetheless dwelling domestically and I’m wondering if a lot of them know of this present state of affairs.’

Hank Pooley replied: ‘When has anybody been injured or significantly injured by a falling gravestone?’ 

Many locals had been shocked to see the yellow tags on their family members’ gravestones, a lot of which are not even wobbly

The notices ask kinfolk to get in contact with the council, who say they’ve an obligation of care to maintain the graveyard secure

‘I have not heard of anybody injuring themselves due to these headstones’: Locals say the tags are ‘disrespectful’ and say they don’t seem to be unsafe 

The vibrant yellow tags warn individuals the memorial is unsafe and ask them to contact the cemetery workplace for additional data 

An aerial view of St Clement’s Church with scores of headstones within the churchyard. The borough council has inspected 5 cemeteries within the space and located 900 of 8,000 memorials’wanted consideration

Ashley Bareford mentioned it was ‘disrespectful’ and wrote: ‘They aren’t unsafe. I have not heard of anybody injuring themselves due to these headstones. It’s only a load of crap. The council does not want to alter something.’

Tom Crossman-Kellie wrote: ‘Who significantly sat down with the H&S group stifling amusing after they mentioned ‘these leaning stones are a threat – somebody may die in the event that they fall on the fallacious time. C’mon that is blatant misuse of H&S insurance policies and steering.’

Another native, who didn’t need to be named, added: ‘It’s well being and security gone mad. Many of the gravestones aren’t even wobbly. It appears fully over-the-top.’

Earlier this 12 months the a spokesperson for the council mentioned: ‘The graves and memorials inside cemeteries are bought by people – normally members of the family of deceased individuals – and so they retain possession of those.

‘This implies that if remedial work is required to make a memorial secure, it’s as much as the proprietor to hold it out, though we’ll present assist and recommendation with this course of.

‘West Norfolk Council performed inspections in 5 cemeteries within the borough in May.

‘In advance of doing this, a press launch was issued and notices had been put up within the cemeteries being inspected.

‘Out of greater than 8,000 memorials examined, simply over 900 have been recognized as needing consideration.

‘Where it’s thought-about {that a} memorial wants remedial work to make it secure, we do our greatest to contact the proprietor of the grave.

‘This just isn’t all the time simple. Most individuals who transfer home wouldn’t take into account making the council conscious of this truth for the needs of grave possession, and generally – particularly with older graves – house owners will be troublesome to hint.

‘As a end result, contacting house owners generally is a time-consuming and complicated course of.

‘In the meantime, we have now put labels on the related graves whereas we make efforts to contact individuals.’