Holdfast Bay Council to increase maintenance at North Brighton Cemetery following feedback
A neighbour of the North Brighton Cemetery is calling on Holdfast Bay Council to clean up the burial ground, which is a dust bowl with sunken and collapsed graves.
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North Brighton Cemetery remains an eyesore that regularly sends dust blowing into neighbouring properties, six months after concerns about its state were first raised.
But Holdfast Bay Council says it plans to “lift the general maintenance of the cemetery” – a move neighbour Jim Smith hopes, this time, actually happens.
Mr Smith contacted The Messenger at the start of the year, saying that, for years, he had battled with dirt and dust blowing from the Brighton Rd cemetery into his home.
This week, he said small mounds of dirt remained scattered around the cemetery, graves were neglected and sunken and dirt paths sent dust wafting into nearby homes.
“As a ratepayer of a neighbouring property, I don’t think it’s a lot to ask the council to cover bare dirt in the cemetery to stop the dust,” Mr Smith said.
“If I had a family member buried there, I would be quite disappointed at the state of it.
“Just a little bit more respect for the deceased from Holdfast Bay Council would be nice.”
The local heritage-listed cemetery has plots that date back to 1859, many of which belong to South Australian pioneers and settlers.
These include former politician and Glenelg mayor William Fisk who, in 1938, lifted the ban on men swimming topless at Glenelg beach.
Mr Smith said after he raised concerns about the cemetery six months ago, some maintenance work was carried out, including weeding and some dirt removal.
He last week met with two staff members from Holdfast Bay Council – which manages the burial ground with the Adelaide Cemeteries Authority – to again air his concerns.
“When I met with them, they have promised to do better, that sounds fair and I can only take their word for that,” Mr Smith said.
A Holdfast Bay spokesperson said the council maintained paths, drains, trees and landscaping within the cemetery.
“Following feedback from the community, we are amending our maintenance schedules so that our maintenance team will attend on a fortnightly basis to lift the general maintenance of the cemetery,” the spokesperson said.
“Over the coming months, we plan to upgrade many of the unsealed paths with new gravel to reduce the amount of dust and to minimise any risk of slips and falls.”
They said the council had included a further $40,000 in its 2020/21 budget to improve signage at the cemetery, concrete some additional paths and improve drainage and landscaping.
“Responsibility for grave maintenance and weed control within marked grave sites sits with the leaseholder of the site, usually the family of the deceased,” they said.
“They are required to keep the grave in good order, but in some cases contact with the family has been lost. In those cases, we will step in and undertake repairs when there is a safety risk to the public.”
The council had contacted the Adelaide Cemeteries Authority to help with the management of the cemetery and to repair any unsafe graves.
“An audit has identified 80 sites that are in need of repairs and these safety improvements are underway,” they said.