Infrastructure costing between £7,000 and £8,000 which was installed at Penrith cemetery without prior consultation is to be removed by Westmorland and Furness Council.
What were initially thought to be steps turned out to be “rafting” installed as a foundation for memorials and headstones to support expansion into other areas of the cemetery.
Paula Thompson, who set up a Keep Penrith Cemetery Beautiful petition in May after the rafting appeared, said she was “absolutely delighted” by the outcome of a meeting attended by David Haughian (Westmorland and Furness Council’s assistant director for community infrastructure) and Neil Buck (contracts manager). They had “respectfully listened to all concerns shared by supporters of the petition”.
“I’d like to thank everyone who joined the facebook group Friends of Penrith Cemetery, to all those who gave their time to attend meetings with Westmorland and Furness Council, and all who signed the online and paper petitions that backed the removal of the raftings. As a community pulling together, our voices were heard,” said Paula.
Penrith town councillor Daniel Jayson, who supported the campaign to get the rafting removed, said: “I am absolutely over the moon. It shows the community can come together and get decisions reversed that have been made.”
He added that Paula, who was a great “champion of the cemetery” should be congratulated for all the hard work she had put in.
A spokesman for Westmorland and Furness Council said: “We recognise the special significance of Penrith cemetery and work hard to make sure it is maintained to the highest standards to ensure it remains a well looked after place of peaceful contemplation.
“We have had positive discussions with a group of residents who are keen to set up a Friends of Penrith Cemetery. We want to work with them to keep that dialogue open and explore opportunities to improve and enhance the cemetery together.
“From those discussions we have listened to the concerns about the recent rafting work in the cemetery and have agreed to remove it.”
