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Returned Cemetery Gates Anger Prescot Residents

By on Monday, June 24, 2013

cemetery_gatesA group of Prescot residents were pleased to see the main gates were back at Prescot Cemetery – but angry when they looked closely and found them still in poor condition.

Rust, corrosion, warped bars, and exposed, jagged metal edges were among the problems they identified with the double gates on Manchester Road.

The two sides overlap considerably, making closing the gates impossible.

Prescotians unhappy with borough council

Viv Frodsham, who has family buried in Prescot Cemetery, was expecting the gates to be restored, having been missing for an estimated year or more without explanation.

“The gates have only been spray-painted,” Viv told Prescot Online, “and a very poor job has been done. The gates do not fit together and therefore cannot be shut. Knowsley council are trying to make fools of us taxpayers and wasting public money with slipshod work.”

Prescot resident Geoff Ormesher was equally angry by what he saw, saying he found it “a completely botched job,” with parts appearing to have been “cut away with a blow torch.”

He described it as “vandalism to our cemetery gates” and “another example of Knowsley Council’s incompetence.”

Prescot Online contacted Knowsley Council for a response to the claims but has received no reply.

Public concern began with petition in April

The poor condition of the cemetery was first brought to Prescot Online’s attention in April 2013, when Mrs Frodsham began a petition to Knowsley Council asking for a historic welcome sign to be replaced at the entrance to the graveyard.

The council responded to criticisms and promised a return of the gates, among other improvements, and last month the sign and side gates were returned.

Since then, a group of a dozen Prescot residents, some living in the immediate vicinity of the cemetery and others with loved ones buried there, have been discussing a way to set up an official Friends of Prescot Cemetery to collaborate with the council on improving and maintaining the property.

Mrs Frodsham has written to Knowsley Council Chief Executive Sheena Ramsey on behalf of the informal group to register her disappointment and call for action. Council Leader Cllr Ron Round will also receive a copy.

Prescot Cemetery Gates: Photos

Warped bars:

geoffgates5

geoffgates13

Overlapping gates don’t fit together, won’t shut:

geoffgates11

geoffgates3

Rusty hinges, missing metal:

rusty_hinges_gate_prescot

Inconsistent spray-painting job:

geoffgates2

Rust, corrosion:

prescot_cemetery_gates_rust

Sharp metal sticks out underneath lock:

jagged

See also:

Photos: Prescot Online, Geoff Ormesher

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  1. Pingback: Knowsley Needs to Shape up – but So Do We | Prescot Online

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