A CAERLEON couple are baffled and angry that Newport council has stopped them laying a slab by a loved one's grave.

Kerry and Andrea Watkins, (pictured) of Forge Close, Caerleon, want to put a marble section down at Caerleon Cemetery to match the headstone for Gladys Watkins.

Mr Watkins's 81-year-old mother died suddenly last May after suffering a heart attack. Since her death, the couple have been locked in a dispute with the council to get the grave Gladys would have wanted.

Mrs Watkins, 46, told the Argus: "We don't want to decorate the grave or put toys down. "It would be very low maintenance. All we want is to put a vase of flowers on top." But the couple's plans were rejected by council bosses.

She added: "They told us the stone would stop them from cutting the grass." "My husband gets very angry about it."

Chartered building surveyor Kerry Watkins, 46, and his wife Andrea wrote to Councillor Graham Dally about the issue and he replied claiming the decision was final and the policy had been in place since the 1970s.

Mrs Watkins said: "There are people who've put down their own mementoes but we're not allowed to do that.

"We feel that a precedent has been set and we should be allowed to put the stone down. We feel it's the last thing we have to remember my mother-in-law."

Caerleon councillor Jim Kirkwood, who has made inquiries on the couple's behalf, said: "I have visited the site with Mrs Watkins, and I sympathise with the case put to me by her and her husband. But, like all council members, I have to accept the policy agreed upon by the council."

A spokeswoman for the city council said Caerleon Cemetery used to be run independently, with its own rules and procedures. But it is now controlled by the city council and must follow the policy of banning ornate headstones - and slabs are included in this.

The only permitted form of memorials are a headstone in natural stone, flower vases of metal or neutral tone and wooden crosses not higher than 2ft. Graves must be flat and completely covered by turf except for a two-foot soil border at the head.

No iron railings, kerbstones or fences are allowed. Glass vases for cut flowers can be placed in the soil border but they must be sunk to ground level.