Localresident

Hi penguin I in no way suggested that this was a scandal , in fact to continue on from what councillor barber has said above I spent over a week back and forth emailing and calling with a manager without any mention of any form of complaints procedure If I wanted to raise one further rather responses were , here's the rules so sorry and blaming the directors / local residents ( anyone other then themselves . hence my choice to come to the forum for help . It is the job of the funarel director to inform the customer but it is the job of the local authority to inform the directors clearly . Which has not happened I will not name the directors but I assure you they are comfortably one of the biggest in London . Just because a rule is in place it does not make it right , it is insensitive and heartless to expect people to grieve in this way , and I invite you to join myself and councillor barber on Saturday morning at 830 to do a site visit and discuss the policy on site , ( entrance by wood vale supermarket will be a meeting point ) again I do not wish to paint a picture of a scandal and I totally agree regarding removal of dead flowers , surely if this was written into the rules that unkept plots will be cleared ( photographed ) and removed in a respectable fashion family's would have the choice to either keep the plot nice or leave it to the cemetery staff , and the cemetery staff would have stronger grounds to remove any untidy or unsightly flowers , that have been neglected , the fact is . Firstly I was tod that this was because of the fight the cemetery had with wood vale residents who " did not want to look at the flowers " I then informed the maneger who told me I was going to contact said residents and ask , I was asked to avoid doing this and then re told the same rule , with the addition of DDA access which no part of the grounds meet anyway as you'll see in my previous post about it , may not be a scandal , but let's just hope anybody who disagrees now does not have to bury a parent or child and be told the same . If you would like to pm your email address I'll happily send you photos of the plot before and after it was cleared just two days apart .

http://www.harlow.gov.uk/building-control-disabled-access Just wondering if they consider grasses areas to comply with DDA building and landscaped areas regulations part m Whig state Surfacing and hard landscaping Design: Internal and external surfaces should be firm, non slip and well laid. Where changes in direction or levels do occur the path edge should be defined with a colour contrast, textured surface or where appropriate upstand kerb or low rail. Street furniture: Should be clearly distinguishable from surrounding and be clearly defined. Projecting covers, isolated steps and large aperture gratings are to be avoided. Pathways Dimensions: Pathways should be a minimum of 1.8 metres wide and 2 metres wide if possible. Movement: Pathways should be clear of obstacles; edges should be clearly defined and routes from roads, bus stops and car parks should be signposted and well lit. Kerbs: Dropped kerbs, flush with the carriageway, which offer a gradient of maximum ratio of 1:10 should be used subject to detailed design and drainage requirements; use of non slip textured-footway surface and pedestrian crossings are advisable. Clearly with Small area in front of each plot the grounds would have more then 1.8 m in between each plot as I do not consider the plot to be a pathway anyway ? the grounds fail on other key points within the document making the whole dda argument irrelevant surely ?

Hi sue thanks for this would apriciate you passing it on for he's veiwingbwould be interesting to hear he's opinion on what's been going on

Thank you , I raised the issue with them regarding residents before posting onto here , they then stated that it was also for maintenance issues ( easier grass cutting ) which I suggested placing the small gravel seaction in fRont of graves. instead prevent flowers being left on lawns but still allowing each plot a personal space , this was not supported by by cemetery and was said to be undoable , due to access issues for the elderly and disabled which I thought seemed far fetched as there is tons of walking space between opposing graves. we was also denied the right to install a kerb style grave for our father due to these reasons which we had to acccept , but the flower issue was a step too far . I will look into who to contact regarding this thank you again for your well wishes

If you send Me your email I will happily cc you Ito email to the manager of the grounds he's pretty responsive albeit Often to remind me that these are the rules that are in place

I feel this is the most likely outcome , the cemetery pointed the finger at the undertaker for not making us aware of these rules and have admitted that they should have direct contact with new grace owners , disputes this the rule as a whole needs reviewing as you said is totally insensitive, it took me around 30 minutes in confusion to find my fathers plot as I recognized it by the flowers as well as the small shop on wood vale as it is almost opposite , I had intact had to read 15-20 plaques on the temporary crosses placed to find where he was , I will do you a picture of what was taken perfectly fresh tribute which cost over 1500 pounds to have made over the Christmas period .

Hi Joe thanks for your response I believe a email address is [email protected] is there min email address as with their generic telephone number I was told there were extensive. Efforts had to be made as that all local residents we're informed or involved in the process . I found it very hard to believe that residents would have a issue with this , also with you living so close I hope you can also see why flowers would not cause access issues as was another one of their reasons

OCorrect , the exact words were " the residents do not want to look at them all " we were given 7 days after the service then total clearance with no advance warning or opportunity to collect anything we wanted to keep , ( I was planning to push fresh flowers into the frames )we found out about this 7 day rule after the clearence and everything Left since has been moved or removed we are at a bit of a loose end as I do not feel we are being unreasonable with our requests , yet none are being taken into account , repeatedly told that these are the rules and regs and that there is no grounds or intentions to change them

Exactly , I have since put flowers and a plants down and they have been moved to behind on the shingles I mentioned , I am hoping if enough people learn of this new rule maybe we can get something more considerate put into place for sand future families in the area who bury there loved ones there .

Was no sure if I was being over sensitive , thank you

I agree , we were told it was a struggle to get this burial space as it is facing the road on wood vale , we was also told that not everyone looks after their plot , and it would not be fair to remove flowers from neglected plots and leave them on plots which are cared for , I feel that if it was written into he deeds that neglected plots would be cleared or dead flowers removed that this would avoid this issue rather then this new blanket rule , I have stressed all of this to management and been told that this would not be supported. Maybe I should contact the southwark news about it all

Hi , We have recently buried our father in wood vale cemetery in one of the new burial plots. after visiting and finding quite literally everything removed from his plot from the actual funarul flowers to new flowers which we had laid the day before we got into touch with the management team to find out what was going on , we were informed that any flowers at left infront of our plot ( which cost just short of four thousand pound) would be removed.instead we are told we must leave flowers on a shared 1 foot gravel barer running behind some of the graves this feels very un personal and anything left cannot be seen once the stone is in place , nor can it be told who it actually belongs to as the graves are almost back to back , causing a larger tripping hazard then it would be if they were on the front ) , leaving not even a foot of space for each plot . When this was questioned we were told that local residents had objected to looking at these memorials hence why they had to be behind the plots out of site. they also stated that maintenance is easier for them if they do it this way so we had asked for the small barer to be places in front of the graves once they had settled ( prevents flowers from being placed on grass - no maintenance issue ? Again we had not requested to use the full plot which we purchased just a small personal 1 foot sized barer in front of our fathers grave for us to leave something when we visit. The final reason we was given is the classic health and safety which I do not understand as a one foot bearer infront of each plot is impossible to cause any access issues ( there is at least 3/4 meters in between the graves which lay opposite each other to be used as walking space yet even the small barer infront is something they've said the would not support . When we originally found this issue there were several plots totally striped including one of a 16 month old child who's parents were quite traumatized that personalized items including photos and gifts left from the child's siblings were removed , it is a long tradition to leave flowers or small gifts at a loved ones graves and I honestly cannot see local residents having a issue with this and wondered if anybody had and knowledge or experience with this issue .