Shock as fly-tippers dump rubbish in Bebington Cemetery

Sep 3 2008 by Lorna Hughes, Bromborough and Bebington News

THIS is the shocking scene that greeted visitors to Bebington Cemetery last week.

Just weeks before Wirral welcomes delegates from across the world for the three-day European Cemeteries Conference, mourners were faced with household rubbish and furniture strewn across part of the Town Lane cemetery.

The discarded items included chairs, tables, part of a sink, wood pieces, cardboard boxes - and even a bath.

One reader who contacted the News and sent in this photo said: “I’m sending you this after visiting a family grave in the cemetery.

“What a disgrace. You can even see the tyre marks in the grass where the persons responsible drove and dumped their rubbish.”

Wirral Council has condemned the “distasteful and mindless act”.

Bebington councillor Jerry Williams said: “I’m really concerned about this. Fly-tipping is a major issue in Bebington but up to now the main problems in the cemetery have been general vandalism and anti-social behaviour.

“Cemeteries are so important from a heritage and history standpoint and we need to protect them.”

Cllr Williams said he hoped volunteers would come forward to help set up a friends’ group to support the cemetery and apply for funding from the council.

Experts from Estonia, Sweden, Spain, France, Croatia, Poland, Austria and even Australia will arrive in the borough on September 17 for the European Cemeteries Conference.

The three-day event will see delegates discuss restoration, volunteering and vandalism.

A spokesman for Wirral Council said: “This is a particularly distasteful and mindless act and will have been an obvious cause of distress for the loved ones of those buried in that part of the cemetery.

“Staff have ensured that this mess has now been cleared up and efforts are also being made to see if those responsible can be traced and brought to account for their actions.”