MEMORIAL safety inspections will be taking place in Thursley Road cemetery in Elstead and St Andrews Churchyard in Farnham, under the control of Waverley Borough Council starting this month.

Council’s staff will inspect the memorials using a visual check and hand check to ensure the memorials are safe and do not pose a risk to visitors, cemetery staff and any other people who may visit the sites.

If necessary some unsafe memorials, which are an imminent risk to the public’s health and safety, may be laid down immediately. Every effort will be taken to contact the plot owner or family members where a memorial is found to be unsafe.

Waverley Borough Council has responsibility for the overall safety within its burial grounds under the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 and the Occupiers Liability Act 1957 and needs to ensure that, as far as reasonably practicable, its sites are maintained in a safe condition.

Although the council has overall responsibility for the safety of the cemetery, including risks from unstable memorials, it does not own the memorials and is not responsible for their maintenance.

In some cases it may not be possible to make contact with the plot owner, in which case any action taken will be in line with the Waverley Borough Council Memorial Safety Policy (www.waverley.gov.uk/cemeterysafety).

Any memorial owners or people responsible for the upkeep of a memorial can contact Waverley Borough Council on 01483 523394 or parks&[email protected] if they have any concerns about the work or are aware that a memorial is unstable or is more than 10 years old.