Protests heat up over cemetery access

CONTENTIOUS: Protesters are demanding that vehicles be allowed to drive into Masterton Cemetery through this Archer St entrance now only accessible to pedestrians. PHOTO/FILE

The pressure remains on Masterton District Council to reinstate vehicle access to Masterton Cemetery directly from Archer Street with or without the return of the wrought iron gates.

Submissions made to the Hearings Committee of the council on Monday were heavily laced with protests over the removal of the gates and the closing up of access virtually to pedestrians only.

Leading the way was Archer Street gates protester Richard Dahlberg who issued a warning to the committee that should the 400-strong petition demanding the return of the vehicle entranceway be denied efforts to enlist even further petitioners will start.

Mr Dahlberg said what had been done at Archer Street was "sacrilege" and he was vehemently opposed to it but it was not too late for councillors to realise they had made a mistake and could put it right.

He said if the gates themselves did not go back, at least the entranceway should, so that people visiting the graves of their loved ones could drive directly into the cemetery and not have to weave their way through the Queen Elizabeth Park access, along a narrow carriageway and often past people playing or watching cricket or other activities.

Mavis Newlands said she and her wider family were unhappy with the new cemetery entrance because the historic grave of her grandfather was immediately inside the entranceway.

Apart from its safety the family felt the Cottle grave deserved more respect and the entrance should be closed, a fence re-instated and the area of the grave properly protected.

Mrs Newlands said there should be a return to using the old entrance off Archer Street which had given "a much nicer approach to the whole cemetery".

Elizabeth Andrew said she had been "disgusted" over the removal of the Archer Street gates and the closing off of direct driving into the cemetery. She also made submissions on the state of Queen Elizabeth Park, particularly on the treatment of mature trees.

She said oaks of seven species within the park had already been destroyed "on the flimsiest of evidence" and she was opposed to any more being felled "at the present time".

Mrs Andrew said when she had joined a park walkabout she had been appalled to discover how "dilapidated and unloved" the park had looked with trees suffering from windburn, dieback and from poor husbandry.

Regarding Masterton Cemetery Mrs Andrew said the park and the cemetery had to be clearly separated.

The park is an Edwardian park and the cemetery is on separate, consecrated ground, she said.