NEWPORT residents are unhappy that the council have not replaced fencing in Christchurch Cemetery despite the fence falling more than six months ago.

The fence in question is to the rear of the cemetery in the bottom left and is supposed to safeguard graves situated there.

However, the original fence toppled some time ago onto some graves and has since been replaced with temporary fencing - which has also fallen over.

The fence is now used as an access point for dog walkers in the cemetery.

Bridget McNulty, who has family members buried near the fence, believes the council should be doing more to safeguard people visiting the cemetery and to maintain the area.

Newport City Council say they are hoping to repair the fence 'in the near future'.

Ms McNulty and her sister, Marian, have complained several times to Newport City Council about the state of the fence.

Ms McNulty said: "We think it's extremely disrespectful that we've got open access coming into a cemetery where people come in and sometimes dump household and rubbish in the bins there.

"I just think we deserve a bit better than to have an open access fence at the back, I think it should be repaired.

"What sort of priority do they (the council) give to the enclosure of the cemetery and keeping it a safe haven?

"If you went into a building site, you would have it all locked up properly for the night as they're protecting their goods, but these are the remains of our dead."

The panelling that has replaced the fallen over fence has toppled multiple times and for at least one funeral was simply carried away to be left nearby.

Ms McNulty said that area around the fencing was dangerous and that she has slipped and hurt herself in the past. 

She said that there are nails nearby and that she was lucky not to need a tetanus jab.

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Ms McNulty and her sister are more frustrated at the lack of action from the council, as they have been in correspondence for several months with seemingly no progress on replacing the fence.

They said that every time they have enquired about the fence, the council have respondedwith generic answers about how they maintain the cemetery.

However, the council have said that they are aware of the situation

A spokeswoman from Newport City Council said: "Funding has been identified to carry out work to rectify the issue with the fence.

"The council is going through the tender process and it is hoped the work will be carried out in the near future."