Accusations over town’s cemetery

A campaign has started on Facebook following allegations that headstones at Arlesey Cemetery have moved in the ground due to the high levels of water in the soil underneath.

But Arlesey Town Council has refuted the claims and says it strictly follows regulations set down by the Environment Agency.

Jason Auburn, who lives in the town, put in a request to the council under the Freedom of Information Act to find out all of the information it has about the site.

He said: “The land that the cemetery is built on is waterlogged and always has been waterlogged.

“I have been told that there have been instances where the gravediggers have had to put wood chips in the bottom of the graves to cover up the amount of water in them as they fill up as soon as they are created.

“There has been another instance where a coffin was lowered into a grave and it started to flip over due to the amount of water in the grave.”

Former council vice-chairman Geoff Page admitted that there have been issues with water since the cemetery opened back in 1996.

He said: “When I was on the council we had complaints and we always tried to deal with them as effectively as possible.There is a water course which runs through the site which does create problems.”

Current chairman Nick Daniels said: “I can assure everyone that the council closely adheres to all of the rules issued by the Environment Agency.

“There is a water course which runs into the River Hiz but graves cannot be dug within 30 metres of it on either side.

“We work closely with a company from Bedford which monitors the site regularly and we also conduct inspections where we dig deep bore holes to make sure that the water table is not too high.”

Headstones had most likely moved due to stonemasons placing them in ground which had only recently been dug up, Mr Daniels added.