Wakefield Council, who have failed to maintain our loved ones' graves, insists that relatives have to remove all pebbles, borders, and decorations from on top of the graves.

The relatives who have decorated their loved ones' graves have done so at great expense and the graves look extremely personal. It is unfair that the council wants all these decorations removing, the council will not maintain the graves despite saying they will. A lot of people find comfort from visiting graves. Personal items give relatives comfort. Myself personally visit the graveyard once a week to maintain two separate graves and do this with great care. My brothers grave has been decorated for nearly 8 years and well maintained. I believe it is unfair to ask now that we remove personalised items within a time frame of 4 weeks. 

Many families have recently had funerals within Covid restrictions and had strict limits on who can attend a funeral. We have the right to maintain and look after gravestones the way we wish and in our own way. This should not be dictated by the council who in the end haven’t paid towards the stone put in place. We the families pay for this plot of land, we have the right to treat the area how we wish. 

Please help make a change for myself and other grieving families to secure our loved ones resting place. Thank you