Council sorry for graves ‘neglect’
THE leader of a South Wales council has apologised for any upset caused by the authority’s “unacceptable” upkeep of its cemeteries.
Andrew Morgan, leader of Labourrun Rhondda Cynon Taf (RCT) Council, said the recent standard of maintenance in the area’s cemeteries fell below both his and residents’ expectations, with one of the main issues being around grass-cutting.
The issue was first highlighted in the Echo last week, when relatives expressed their anger after a graveyard was left “overgrown and neglected”, leaving some headstones barely visible.
Several complaints were made about the state of Glyntaff Cemetery in Pontypridd.
In response to the concerns, Cllr Morgan said lessons will be learned by the council and he was just as frustrated as residents with some of the issues.
He has told officers to look at how the shortfalls in their upkeep have happened and revealed the council had experienced significant issues in seasonal staff recruitment and retention this year.
In response to residents’ concerns, Cllr Morgan has asked that more resources are immediately used to address the backlog and carry out the necessary general maintenance, especially grass-cutting, to ensure that these “important and sensitive public spaces are maintained to the standard the public and councillors expect”.
Cllr Morgan said: “Since being made aware of these concerns the council is working hard to rectify this issue and has drafted in extra resources to tackle the maintenance backlog, but importantly, I want to ensure that arrangements are set in place to ensure such circumstances do not occur again in our cemeteries.
“Once we fully understand how these failures arose this year additional resources will be allocated, if necessary, to ensure our cemeteries in RCT meet the expected standards they deserve.
“In a huge organisation, as the council is, things will not go right all the time, but what is important is that when they do not we quickly respond and that we learn lessons to avoid similar situations in the future.
“I visited a number of cemeteries in RCT over the weekend and I am just as frustrated and concerned as residents have recently been by what I saw.
“Since taking up this matter significant improvements have already been made to green areas across our cemeteries, with work continuing.
“I recognise that this is unacceptable and would like to offer my apologies on the behalf of the council for any upset this issue may have caused to residents.”