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Jun 2021

Last Updated: 16/06/2021

Politics

Councillors increase calls for tidy up of Ripon cemetery

by Tim Flanagan

| 16 Jun, 2021

Independent Ripon city councillors are sceptical of claims that grass hasn't been mowed as part of a 're-wilding' programme designed to increase bio diversity. They've accused the borough council of cost cutting.

ripon-15th-june-2021-overgrown-grass-in-ripon-cemetery

Two senior Ripon councillors have stepped up calls for an urgent tidy up of Ripon Cemetery.

Last week, Ripon City Council leader Andrew Williams and fellow independent Pauline McHardy, accused Harrogate Borough Council (HBC) of ‘disrespecting the dead of Ripon’ and causing ‘distress’ to their relatives and friends.

At the same time, people visiting the cemetery on Kirkby Road spoke of their ‘distress and disgust.’

They were concerned that unmown grass has grown to such a height it makes finding and visiting graves difficult.

In some areas of Ripon cemetery, overhanging trees and hedges completely obscure rows of graves.

Cllr Williams, who has generations of his own family buried at the cemetery, pointed out:

“When you look at the care given by the borough council to Stonefall and compare it with Ripon, the contrast is there for all to see.

"I don’t think that it is unreasonable to expect the council to deliver the same standard of service across the entire district.

"It is deeply disrespectful to those with deceased relatives in other parts of the Harrogate District to provide a high standard of maintenance at Stonefall and a much lower one elsewhere."

The above photograph was taken at Stonefall Cemetery in Harrogate on Friday (11 June).

Now cllr McHardy, a city and district councillor, has contacted conservative cllr Andrew Paraskos, HBC cabinet member for environment, waste reduction and recycling, whose portfolio includes 11 district cemeteries, and called for him to take immediate action.

She told the Stray Ferret:

“People in Ripon are angry that they and their deceased relatives are being treated like second-class citizens.

"What you can see in Ripon isn't 're-wilding' for the benefit of nature, it's purely and simply a cost-cutting exercise."

Is HBC disrespectful of Ripon's dead?

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Last week, an HBC spokesperson, said:

“Visitors to several of the cemeteries across the district may start to notice that some areas are being left to grow and not mown.

“We want to encourage biodiversity so are working with parish councils to leave specific areas to grow, attract pollinators and create habitats

“We have a regular programme of work, across all of the district’s cemeteries that we manage, and when specific issues are raised we will work to address these and carry out any required maintenance.

“We will of course continue to mow the grass along pathways and around gravestones so that mourners can pay their respects to their loved ones.”

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Councillors increase calls for tidy up of Ripon cemetery

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