Unholy row over neglected cemetery

A POLITICAL war of words has broken out between two parish councils over improvement works at a neglected Warrington cemetery.
Great Sankey Lib Dem councillor Trudi Wood (pictured) has accused Penketh Parish Council of attempting to make political gain by claiming it got improvement works carried out at St Mary’s Church cemetery.
She claims it is “distasteful” to make political points scoring out of a sensitive issue.
But Penketh says the cemetery is in its parish and that Great Sankey Parish Council refused to help financially – even though people from its parish are buried there.
Labour Penketh Parish Coun Linda Dirir criticised Coun Wood for using the improvements to boost her own image in a leaflet used during the May elections – under the headline “Respect Restored to St Mary’s Cemetery.”
Meanwhile Coun Wood’s complaints are directed at Penketh saying: “We have had a working party liaising closely with Warrington Council, the local church and organisations like the Royal British Legion and War Memorials
Trust on various projects at St Mary’s Cemetery since June 2009.”
She said all work undertaken was instigated by the group which she led, and that Penketh declined to join in.
She refutes Penketh’s claim that most of the work was done by Warrington’s Look of the Borough Team. She said some work was done by them at her request, but the majority was done by Bereavement Services.
“If Penketh has planted wildflowers they may have placed them in areas cleared by us for other projects, wasting time and money invested. Common sense suggests it would have been appropriate to discuss any activities with the group already established,” she said.
“It is distasteful that councillors from Penketh would take credit for work completed by others in such a sensitive public place. Possibly the 2011 elections motivate them?”
But Coun Dirir said the cemetery has been in a poor state for about five years, when it became full and was closed to new graves.
She said the borough council took over responsibility – but there were concerns that because of budget constraints it may be neglected. She said the project was too big to be done by volunteers.
She said Penketh agreed to put some money in to help, but Great Sankey refused. She said it fell into a “dreadful” state after effectively being left as the borough’s responsibility.
Coun Dirir said that the Look of the Borough team agreed to work in Penketh, and local people were consulted. It was agreed the cemetery was a priority.
She suggested for the future of the site’s maintenance should involve four groups making financial contributions – the two parish councils, the borough and the church.

Trudi Wood on 21st September 2010 12:56 am 12:56 am

I would like to clarify:-

Great Sankey Parish Council started a working group in the summer of 2009 to look into how it could improve St Mary’s Cemetery after residents contacted me, genuinely concerned and distressed over the state that the cemetery was in.

The cemetery is located in Penketh but the church and many of it’s parishioners are in Great Sankey. As a matter of courtesy, after setting up the working group, I contacted Penketh Parish Council to advise them of our intentions. They replied “at this stage the Council believe it is the responsibility of the Warrington Borough to maintain the cemetery to a satisfactory standard. They would support the Community Payback scheme if they were to be involved, and if there was small costs involved consider splitting with Great Sankey Parish as a possible solution”.

I then attended Penketh Parish Council in November 2009 to advise them of our plans and extend an invitation to join us. Even though they have been invited to every meeting they have never joined us or contacted us about our plans. Their only response after my visit was to request financial details regarding maintenance costs.

Up to 2003 Great Sankey PC was already sharing maintenance costs with the Church and Penketh PC (ie a third each of grounds maintenance bills). When WBC took over responsibility in 2003 GSPC continued to pay their third share until November 2005. The Church Warden then informed us that WBC had taken over the maintenance from April 2006.

Since 2006 works or funds that are allocated to this site are provided via existing WBC cemetery budgets and Great Sankey Parish Council is very grateful for the help of Bereavement Services for the additional activities that have happened since our working group was set up.

We have had memorial inspections at the cemetery (where possible, instead of either laying the unsafe memorials flat, or stake and tying them, the memorials have been sunk in, leaving them in an upright position and improving not only the safety but also the aesthetics of the churchyard – this work is on-going). We have had extensive tree pruning, we have had much overgrown shrubbery cut back, we have had a new fence put in along the sides and rear of the site, we have a central bed cleared for an autumn planting project and we have had compost bins delivered. We have worked with the local church, with local residents, with members of The Royal British Legion, with War Memorials Trust and with the War Graves Commission.

I was more than a little surprised then that after hearing nothing from Penketh Parish Council since late last year, members appeared in the local press claiming they had instigated all these works and then attributed that work to a different Council team (whose only involvement with the cemetery for Penketh Parish Council was to sow wildflower seeds in the bed we had had prepared, at some considerable expense, for a different project).

Unfortunately many our intended projects cannot be undertaken by WBC as substantial funding is required. WBC cannot access all funding opportunities that are available but a group of volunteers can and is therefore the best option for the cemetery. And luckily we have some of those and very grateful I am to them all too. If anyone ever doubts what determined volunteers are capable of then take yourself off to Burtonwood Cemetery which is indeed an example of what can be achieved. If anyone wishes to join us please contact me at [email protected] or come along to our next meeting in St Mary’s Church on 5th October at 6.30pm.

I remain totally committed to this project and thank everyone who has helped so far.

Cllr Trudi Wood

5 Comments

Baz on 20th September 2010 9:14 am 9:14 am

These councillors have no shame…. is it any wonder they command no respect from the public?

Dizzy on 20th September 2010 8:10 pm 8:10 pm

What goes around comes around… how many times have we all read the Lib Dem newsletters where they have tried to gain political points by saying they have done or achieved something that someone else has actually done ? Anyway I’m past caring these days and as long as things get done I don’t really care who takes the credit 🙂

Trudi Wood on 21st September 2010 12:56 am 12:56 am

I would like to clarify:-

Great Sankey Parish Council started a working group in the summer of 2009 to look into how it could improve St Mary’s Cemetery after residents contacted me, genuinely concerned and distressed over the state that the cemetery was in.

The cemetery is located in Penketh but the church and many of it’s parishioners are in Great Sankey. As a matter of courtesy, after setting up the working group, I contacted Penketh Parish Council to advise them of our intentions. They replied “at this stage the Council believe it is the responsibility of the Warrington Borough to maintain the cemetery to a satisfactory standard. They would support the Community Payback scheme if they were to be involved, and if there was small costs involved consider splitting with Great Sankey Parish as a possible solution”.

I then attended Penketh Parish Council in November 2009 to advise them of our plans and extend an invitation to join us. Even though they have been invited to every meeting they have never joined us or contacted us about our plans. Their only response after my visit was to request financial details regarding maintenance costs.

Up to 2003 Great Sankey PC was already sharing maintenance costs with the Church and Penketh PC (ie a third each of grounds maintenance bills). When WBC took over responsibility in 2003 GSPC continued to pay their third share until November 2005. The Church Warden then informed us that WBC had taken over the maintenance from April 2006.

Since 2006 works or funds that are allocated to this site are provided via existing WBC cemetery budgets and Great Sankey Parish Council is very grateful for the help of Bereavement Services for the additional activities that have happened since our working group was set up.

We have had memorial inspections at the cemetery (where possible, instead of either laying the unsafe memorials flat, or stake and tying them, the memorials have been sunk in, leaving them in an upright position and improving not only the safety but also the aesthetics of the churchyard – this work is on-going). We have had extensive tree pruning, we have had much overgrown shrubbery cut back, we have had a new fence put in along the sides and rear of the site, we have a central bed cleared for an autumn planting project and we have had compost bins delivered. We have worked with the local church, with local residents, with members of The Royal British Legion, with War Memorials Trust and with the War Graves Commission.

I was more than a little surprised then that after hearing nothing from Penketh Parish Council since late last year, members appeared in the local press claiming they had instigated all these works and then attributed that work to a different Council team (whose only involvement with the cemetery for Penketh Parish Council was to sow wildflower seeds in the bed we had had prepared, at some considerable expense, for a different project).

Unfortunately many our intended projects cannot be undertaken by WBC as substantial funding is required. WBC cannot access all funding opportunities that are available but a group of volunteers can and is therefore the best option for the cemetery. And luckily we have some of those and very grateful I am to them all too. If anyone ever doubts what determined volunteers are capable of then take yourself off to Burtonwood Cemetery which is indeed an example of what can be achieved. If anyone wishes to join us please contact me at [email protected] or come along to our next meeting in St Mary’s Church on 5th October at 6.30pm.

I remain totally committed to this project and thank everyone who has helped so far.

Cllr Trudi Wood

Cllr Mike Biggin on 21st September 2010 8:08 pm 8:08 pm

I can confirm that Trudi’s version of events is accurate. Having worked with her on the renovation of the cemetery at Manchester Road I am fully aware of the dedication she has shown to both these projects. I doubt she is looking to score political points knowing that she is only putting the record straight.

Mogwai on 23rd September 2010 11:54 am 11:54 am

Penketh Parish Council are obviously rattled by someone who has made a real effort to sort out something they should have done a long time ago. Indeed, they are less than useless – how long has the Youth Club building now been closed for? They haven’t addressed any of the problems with the state of the local roads (Meeting Lane is riddled with potholes and a disgrace). Nor have they done anything about safety signage near St Josephs School or traffic calming measures required in the area.