Sinking graves at Penryn’s Glebe Cemetery could cost around £3,500 to rectify according to a quote received by the town council last week.

The council has decided to act |following reports from distressed relatives who had noticed some of the plots sinking as the soil compacted following a burial.

To remedy the problem, which has also caused difficulties for gardeners who cannot effectively mow the lawn cemetery, the council was given a quote of £35 per plot to remove the turf from the graves and top up the topsoil before relaying the grass, totalling up to £3,500 for approximately 100 affected burial sites.

Town clerk Michelle Davey said: “It’s quite usual, but because it’s a relatively new cemetery it’s not something we’ve got round to dealing with yet.

“It’s a lawn cemetery which means you haven’t got big monuments or vaults, you need to be able to run the mower over it, and it doesn’t look nice for the people tending the graves.”

Councillor Mark Snowdon told the town council last Tuesday that another solution, instead of removing and |relaying the turf, would be to fill the dips on the graves with soil and simply reseed them, and Miss Davey said “either way the outcome will be the same, it’s just a matter of which is the least costly option.”

The council also accepted the |recommendation of Miss Davey that a review of the management of the |cemetery be carried out, with |recommendations for its future |management, and it was noted that part of the problem with the uneven filling of graves could be down to the fact different grave diggers are used depending on the funeral director chosen by each family.

The town clerk has recently attended a cemetery legal compliance course, and arranged a meeting with a Cornwall Council officer in charge of cemeteries to receive advice on the upkeep of the site.

She said: “You can’t stop it happening, I don’t think. If they come up with a |solution, great, but I think they’ll say it’s just part of routine maintenance.”

She added: “It’s a bit of a learning curve with the cemetery because it’s our first one and still relatively new.