Council urged to halt grave plan
A councillor is calling for a halt to controversial testing work carried out by Stoke-on-Trent city council on unsafe gravestones.
The Labour leader Mick Salih has tabled a motion urging the council to stop the testing programme and to consult more with councillors on the scheme.
But a leading expert on memorial safety has praised the council for its work.
Professor John Knapton said the council's approach to the issues was "wholly appropriate and sensitive."
Expert advice
Professor Knapton, who is a leading expert in structural engineering, said the council had "recognised public sensitivity whilst at the same time complying with their obligations and responsibilities in relation to health and safety."
In October 2002, Stoke-on-Trent City Council started laying flat more than 11,000 headstones in cemeteries it considered to be unsafe.
The council agreed to pay compensation, but was found guilty of maladministration causing injustice.
In the latest programme of works which started in April, six gravestones were flattened immediately and a further 200 will be flattened if the owners do not respond to council letters.
A council spokesman said they had taken the best expert advice available on the action that should be taken and would continue with the programme.
The Health and Safety Executive currently state that burial authorities must have a memorial safety programme, but fails to state how the work should be carried out.
Elected Mayor Mike Wolfe has called on the government to end the confusion by laying down a national standard for memorial safety testing.
Source: The BBC (20/05/2004)
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