THE MAYOR of Houghton Regis has suggested setting up a separate committee to discuss the town’s cemetery after a petition against graveyard rules was handed in to councillors.
At a meeting of Houghton Regis Town Council’s environment committee on Monday night, resident Christine Kavanagh presented a petition of 1,000 signatures against regulations which state stones and edging are not allowed on graves.
Mrs Kavanagh, of Leafields, has been told to remove the decorative surround and gravel at her husband’s resting place in the cemetery. She told the Gazette: “People with surrounds and stones put there before a certain date can keep them but other people can’t.
“If it is a health and safety issue, no-one should be able to do it. We handed the petition in with 1,000 signatures which we felt was a strong indication that the rules needed revising.
“In the meeting Councillor Andrew Roberts asked the public if a sub-committee was put together would we give our input and work together. We felt this would give the people of Houghton Regis a voice and a say in the upkeep of the cemetery.”
The petition has been in pubs and shops across Houghton Regis for the past few weeks, and Mrs Kavanagh thanked all those who supported her campaign.
Houghton Regis town clerk Stuart Oliver told the Gazette that a cemetery sub-committee is “a possibility”.
He added: “It is likely that the petition itself will be presented at another environment committee meeting as an agenda item for further discussion.”
