Three-year wait to get Sleaford cemetery gate reopened could be over
Wednesday 9.50am - A CONTROVERSIAL access gate to Sleaford cemetery could be reopened three-and-a-half years after it was closed on safety grounds.
Town councillors agreed to close the Millfield Terrace pedestrian gate around Christmas 2006 amid concerns for the health and safety of children using the graveyard as a short cut to and from school.
After a health and safety inspection, it was warned there could be problems with insurance and the council may be liable for any injuries from falling headstones onto children straying from the path.
But campaigners battled tirelessly over the following years to reinstate the entrance complaining it was too far for older people to walk from the north of the town to visit loved ones' graves while parents claimed it was more dangerous for children walking to school.
As chairman of the council services committee, Coun Brian Watson has agreed to re-examine the gate with a view to reopening it on tonight's (Wednesday's) agenda after requests from the public and other councillors.
He said: "A lot of people in the north end of the town could not get to the cemetery and some have not been since the gate closed because they have no way of getting there apart from a taxi which is quite costly."
He felt circumstances had changed and enquiries found insurers would simply expect signs warning cemeteries are dangerous, public enter at their own risk and stick to paths. Mr Watson feared insurers would not look favourably on allowing school children through. He suggests opening 10am - 2pm weekdays and same as the main gate at weekends, hoping councillors will view it favourably.
Long-standing campaigner Shirley Cheevers of Sleaford was hopeful, but wished the hours could be restored to how they were before. Another campaigner, Douglas Vere-critcher, said: "Hopefully, at last, the truth of what the insurance company and health and safety have actually said will come out. That in fact it should never have been closed. We could never find a reason why it should close but we were so angry no-one would listen."
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Saturday 11 February 2012
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