MORE than a decade since Joe Oldham began his battle over a change in cemetery regulations, he has received an apology and refunded legal costs from Farnham Town Council (FTC).

When cemetery responsibility was taken back from Waverley Borough Council, FTC made a change to regulations, resulting in West Street cemetery being classed as a lawned cemetery. This meant that only headstones were allowed on graves, moving away from kerbed gravestones.

But, Mr Oldham, of Firgrove Road, Whitehill, claims he was not made aware of the change that took place just two weeks before he bought the plot for his wife in November 2006.

Janie Oldham had fought a two-and-a-half-year battle with cancer and in her last few weeks asked her husband to have her buried in West Street with a grave similar to those of relatives in the same cemetery, having chosen her stone and kerbstone.

Mr Oldham made the decision to put three marble vases on the plot instead of the full kerb, but was told by FTC in 2009 that this was to be removed. He went on to take the extreme measure of having his late wife’s body exhumed and re-buried at Whitehill cemetery.

The council has unreservedly apologised to Mr Oldham and his family for the distress caused after the burial of his late wife and admitted they had failed to advise local undertakers in sufficient time that they had changed the regulations for the cemetery. Had Mr Oldham been made aware of the changes, other arrangements would have been made.

The council acknowledged that Mr Oldham had appealed against its decision not to allow kerbing on his late wife’s grave and that this matter could have been dealt with in a more sensitive way.

Mr Oldham stated that personnel, who are no longer council officers, treated him in a way that was rude and discourteous to the extent that he perceived their attitude toward him to be racist in nature, due to his Romany background. However, the council reassured him that it does not and has never tolerated racial prejudice or discrimination. FTC did not accede to his request that racism should be on the exhumation form.

It was agreed to be unacceptable that this matter remains ongoing some 11 years later, with Mr Oldham having incurred substantial legal fees.

Iain Lynch, town clerk, said: “Mr Oldham’s appeal was turned down, and he then went on to take legal advice. I investigated the matter and accept the council probably hadn’t informed councillors of the correct information at the time, so agreed that we would refund Mr Oldham’s legal costs which he shouldn’t have had to incur to get answers out of us.”

A number of measures have now been implented to ensure these problems are never repeated.

“We actually changed our regulations again last year to allow kerbing in Badshot Lea cemetery, and do allow kerbing on appeal now if for instance existing family members buried in the cemetery already have kerbing.

“We now make sure any changes to the regulations don’t come in with immediate effect to give people the chance to know about it,” Mr Lynch continued.

FTC thanked Mr Oldham for his co-operation in working to find an appropriate resolution to a matter which has been very upsetting and have extended their good wishes to him for the future.