THE issue of the Four Marks Burial Ground was again raised with the parish council at its May meeting after the council received a letter from a parishioner demanding an apology.

The cemetery in Brislands Lane has been an extremely delicate issue in the village, ever since a fierce debate took place between the parish council and a large group of villagers during the annual village assembly back in March.

The dispute concerns the rules which govern the burial ground, which are set out by the Winchester Diocese of the Church of England, and have to be enforced by the parish council.

These rules concern items of remembrance that can be placed on graves in the burial ground, and more importantly, items that cannot.

Residents in the village first took exception to these rules after letters were sent out by parish council clerk Bob Park asking graveholders to remove certain items from graves.

Particular outrage was felt by the relatives of Jack Innes, a four-year-old boy buried there in 1999 after being killed in a tragic fairground accident in Spain.

Jack's family, along with other residents who had known Jack or whose children had been Jack's friends, argued that the windmills, teddies, toys and windchimes placed at his grave by his old classmates are an appropriate way of remembering a child.

The letter had been sent to council chairman Peter Hobbs, asking him to apologise for misleading a member of the public, after confusion arose over a survey currently being carried out by villagers.

The survey is being conducted door-to-door by the newly formed Four Marks Action Group, to gauge the opinions of Four Marks residents over the rules governing the burial ground, and to ask whether residents agree with the action being taken by the parish council.

One of the residents conducting the survey had knocked on Mr Hobbs' door and asked him to fill in the survey form.

The form stated that the survey was being conducted "with the knowledge of the parish council".

Mr Hobbs refuted this and told the resident that he was the chairman of the council and had no knowledge of the survey, and that it had not been approved by the council.

The letter claimed that the parish council did have knowledge of the survey and that Mr Hobbs had misled the resident. An apology was demanded for this apparent attempt to confuse matters.

The real reason for the confusion materialised at the meeting. Bryan Timms had previously been appointed by the parish council as a liaison point between themselves and the action group. It was instructed that all communication between the parish council and the action group go through Mr Timms.

Group co-ordinator Tony Innes, little Jack's grandfather, had informed Mr Timms of their intention to conduct the survey. However, Mr Timms did not have time to inform the parish council of these intentions before going on holiday. By the time he returned, the confusion had already occurred.

Mr Hobbs felt that the wording of the survey encouraged the view that the parish council had agreed, or made the statements in the survey, which he said was not the case. He also said that the inference that the council supported the survey gave it false credibility.

There was also some dispute about some of the claims made by the survey.

Burton Mills was completely in the dark over the matter but summed up the council's opinion by saying that many of the statements in the survey were not true.

The survey stated that the council was given a vote of no confidence at the annual village assembly concerning their intention to remove items from the graves.

The parish council's response was that there were only a small percentage of residents at the meeting and no formal vote of no confidence was, or could legally, be passed.

The council also had a problem with the survey's interpretation of the regulations themselves.

It says that the council does not allow kerbstones or flower beds which require tending, wooden memorials of any sort and artificial flowers, including those under glass domes.

The council questioned this, saying that the regulations covered about four pages of A4 but the survey had only taken six small items from the rules without any sort of explanation or further detail.

The next meeting of the parish council will take place on Wednesday, June 19, in the village hall.

The cemetery regulations will be discussed in detail at this meeting, as the subject has been put on the meeting's agenda at the request of Mr Timms. It is hoped that this meeting will go a long way towards finally resolving the issue.