Cemetery issue gulf widens

ANGER: Councillors remain divided over car access.PHOTO/AP

The fight to reinstate car access to Masterton Cemetery through what has become known as the Archer St Gates has been lost, but the battle may not yet be over.

In a split decision Masterton District Council voted this week not to take any action to reinstate the entranceway to other than pedestrian access.

But the decision, and the manner at which it was arrived at, have angered and upset those leading the fight to widen the accessway and the council has already been asked to go back and take another look at how the decision was made.

At the meeting on Wednesday one of several options prepared by council engineers on possible reinstatement of the entranceway was sorted out as being the likely one to be approved but after a roundtable debate it was defeated on a 5-5 draw meaning the status quo applies and no changes will be made.

The vote was somewhat complicated because rural councillor and deputy mayor Graham McClymont declared a vested interest prior to the debate beginning and abstained from voting.

There was conjecture over whether he needed to do so and mayor Lyn Patterson gave Mr McClymont the choice of foregoing it, but he decided to take no part based on the fact he manufactures concrete products being used in construction at the other end of the cemetery in the lych gate area.

The engineers framed three options to challenge the status quo having been asked to do so after a recent council debate on the possible entranceway reinstatement.

Councillors boiled it down to option 3 which would have seen the re-instatement of the gates along with provision for single lane vehicle access off Archer Street and pedestrian access.

This would have involved relocating several "unoccupied" cremation plots that had been pre-sold but no cremation ashes from occupied plots.

The cost would have amounted to about $7000 plus GST but a group representing 400 petitioners calling for the entranceway to be reinstated had offered to foot the bill in its entirety.

A gate would have been installed to ban vehicles from entering after dark.

Reinstatement was supported by councillors Gary Caffell, Chris Peterson, Doug Bracewell, Brent Goodwin and David Holmes.

Opposed were Simon O'Donoghue, Mark Harris, Jonathan Hooker, Pip Hannon and Lyn Patterson.

In the immediate aftermath of the decision Kevin Fearon and Richard Dahlberg, who have been at the forefront of the drive to have the entranceway widened for cars, were scathing, not only at the decision but at some of the comments made.

Mr Dahlberg said it was obvious the councillors who opposed it had not properly read the engineers' reports and their arguments were flawed.

"Pip Hannon and Simon O'Donoghue both spoke about the cost to council and yet both had been told it would cost the council nothing.

"Even at the meeting they were reminded of that by councillor Caffell.

"Mark Harris talked about how upset he would be if his father's ashes had been among those to be moved but option 3 clearly stated no ashes or headstones would be moved.

"Only a couple of unoccupied cremation plots were involved and would simply have to be moved back slightly," he said.

Mr Fearon wrote to the mayor yesterday and said option 3 had offered up a "wonderful compromise" and a "win/win outcome" for everyone.

He said because three councillors had made their voting choice on a "misunderstanding of the facts" the council should re-visit the vote. Councillor Gary Caffell said he had been surprised some councillors had "not done their homework, or weren't listening".

He could not understand why Mr McClymont had abstained as it was confirmed there was no matter of a conflict of interest.