More complaints over cemetery maintenance
Maidenhead: Visitors criticise ‘grass up to your knees’ at All Saints graveyard
More concerns have been raised about the mowing of the borough’s public spaces – after another cemetery was described as being in a ‘horrifying’ state.
Last week, the Advertiser reported on concerns over the ‘dreadful’ state of the overgrown grass and weeds around headstones at Braywick Cemetery.
Now, a visitor to All Saints Cemetery, off All Saints Avenue, has said he was ‘horrified’ by the state he found it in last week.
Former Maidonian Michael Taylor visited to pay his respects by the graveside of his grandmother.
“I was absolutely horrified with the state of the cemetery,” he said. “I don't know if there are any plans for the upkeep of this place, but it looked like a jungle.
“It almost brought me to tears. This is not what I would expect from the Royal Borough.”
White Waltham resident Martin Jones had the same experience visiting the grave
of his grandfather – a war veteran.
Martin said: “I couldn’t believe how overgrown it was. You could have broken your ankle trying to find the grave. The grass was up to your knees.”
He added: “It’s hundreds of times worse than Braywick.
“There’s a lot of war graves up there, so to see it like that is absolutely disgusting.”
Martin and his cousin also had no luck ringing the number at All Saints Cemetery. Martin said they were ‘palmed off’ and told work would begin in two to three weeks.
According to the Royal Borough’s information page on All Saints Cemetery, the
council has introduced conservation grass areas in some sections of it, to help and encourage wildlife.
The grass will be cut and removed during September, the webpage states.
A council spokesman said: “Our contractor Tivoli provides grass-cutting and other grounds maintenance services across miles of highways verges, in addition to cemeteries and other green areas across the borough.
“Because of unforeseen and temporary resourcing and equipment issues occurring during the peak growing season, the team has had to prioritise grass cutting at areas where there are potential safety issues with sightlines, such as junctions and verges, which unfortunately means that grass cutting at cemeteries is running behind the usual summer schedules.
“The team is working to catch up on grass at our cemeteries as soon as possible and will visit the All Saints Cemetery within the next week.
“We’d like to thank residents for their patience and understanding.
“Separate to this, there are conservation grass areas in some sections of the cemetery where there are older graves to encourage wildlife and signage at the site clearly explains this. The grass will be cut there later in the year as normal.”