RESPONSIBILITY for repair work to gravestones in Kidderminster Cemetery will be spelled out to plot holders, if council cabinet members back a proposal.

Wyre Forest District Council's commercial services policy and scrutiny panel, meeting last night, was due to consider a series of recommendations that would also urge stonemasons to "act in a professional manner" when advising plot holders. If they agreed them, they will be forwarded to the cabinet, which meets at the end of this month.

Controversial temporary repairs, with memorial stones held together with bands or propped up by stakes, have been carried out to graves in the cemetery.

Complaints by the public over the issue prompted the council to reiterate that although the local authority was duty bound to check the stability of the gravestones, ongoing maintenance was down to individual plot holders.

Out of 6,381 graves with headstones in Kidderminster Cemetery, 840 - 13 per cent - needed attention, due to being faulty or at risk of fault. Of those, around half - 444 - were in the block 10 section, dating from 1984 to the present day.

A report to last night's meeting said council officers had made "all reasonable" attempts to contact plot holders about the checks, through methods including notices in the cemetery and contacting religious groups, although it was "not possible" to contact individuals directly. The problem was compounded by plot holders not telling the council when they moved house.

Members of the panel also met stonemasons to discuss the issue. Stonemasons, according to the report, had come under fire for quoting up to £500 for gravestone remedial work, which, the council said, could be carried out for between £150 and £200.

They had also been criticised by members of the public who had been affected by the work.

A council suggestion to produce a leaflet, jointly with the stonemasons, including information such as advice on required standards for erecting memorial stones was welcomed by the masons.

The panel was due to decide a procedure stating the plot holder was to pay for a gravestone's upkeep and produce an information leaflet to issue to plot holders, funeral directors and stonemasons.