7:20am Tuesday 24th November 2009
By Thais Portilho-Shrimpton
Mourners will have to tone it down when decorating their loved ones' graves under plans by Epsom and Ewell Council to change its cemetery regulations.
The council’s social committee approved the new cemetery regulations which state “no glass, earthenware, paving slabs, chippings, loose stones, wooden or trellis type memorials or plastic surrounds” shall be placed on any graves.
The decorations are being banned for health and safety reasons because, according to the council, groundsmen may get hurt by them while cutting the grass or doing maintenance at the cemetery.
Another item incorporated in the regulations will allow grave owners to have 9in-wide surrounds around the kerb edge of a traditional memorial, in the old part of the cemetery, on payment of an additional fee and subject to approval.
The item was included following requests from a Romany grave owner since “it is custom and tradition” to have surrounds on Romany memorials.
A final decision will be made on the new regulations at the full council meeting, in December.
However, despite the new rules, the council said traditions such as the placing of stones on graves by the Jewish community will be allowed to carry on, and grave owners will still be allowed to use chippings, if they are placed within boundaries.
The spokeswoman said: “The issue of chippings only arises if they are placed loose on top of the ground as this poses a risk for our contractors during grass cutting operations.
“The chippings already in the cemetery are within the kerbs of a full memorial. We will not ask for chippings to be removed.
“It is understood that the Jewish tradition is to place stones on top of the memorials which will not create a hazard.”
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