PLANS to shift ornaments off graves have been met with a wave of anger and disbelief.

Bereaved relatives, funeral directors and cemetery volunteer groups have united to condemn the Kirklees Council plans.

Friday's Examiner revealed how, from April, the council would be packing away treasured mementoes left on the graves of loved ones, in an effort to boost aesthetic appeal.

The council said the Dewsbury and Batley cemetery support groups backed the plans. But the secretary of the Dewsbury group, Joan Ingham, said she had not heard anything about them. She added: "Kirklees is not known for consulting."

Mrs Ingham, a member of the group for eight years, said she was very disillusioned with the council.

She added: "We have had a number of unfulfilled promises. We have had promises and been let down every step of the way."

Neil Bolland, the co-ordinator of the Batley group, said he knew nothing about the changes.

He added: "I wouldn't support it personally, as I have an ornament on a family grave."

But Kirklees said Dewsbury group members knew of the plans after a number of meetings through the Bereavement Services Partnership.

Meanwhile, funeral directors said Kirklees should be more concerned with putting resources into tending graveyards than taking things out of them.

Ian Birks, from TW Birks and Son, said the council received £900 for every new plot and that cash should find its way back to cemeteries.

He added: "There was a burial at Lockwood Cemetery the other week and the family wanted to carry the coffin on their shoulders.

"The ground was terrible and they had to do the best they could. It's distressing enough for families, without having to get across a quagmire."

David Peace, a funeral carriage master, said the state of cemeteries had got worse. He added: "The council only get away with it because of the solemnity.

"If it was a wedding people would complain. But at a funeral people don't want to take things any further."

Grieving relatives are also upset at the plans.

Ian Kennedy, 37, a teacher from Quarmby, lost his first wife, Natalie, nearly three years ago after a long battle with cancer.

He said: "My son, Sam, was born early so Natalie could have chemotherapy.

"After her death he went with his grandmother to the grave and laid a brightly- coloured Tigger.

"I have laid a small stone hedgehog, as that is something important to me. These things aren't just plonked on the grave. They give great comfort.

"If they go to her grave with that proposal they will find me laying on top of it.

"They will have to arrest me before they get anything off it."

Ian Jackson, a plasterer from Shepley, said: "This is disgusting. The first we knew of these new rules was in the Examiner."

Ian and his wife lost one of their identical twin boys, Cameron. He was stillborn in January, 2003, and is buried at Lockwood.

Cameron's brother, Brandon, has just turned two.

Ian, 34, said: "Teddies and other ornaments are a way of remembering a child and showing affection.

"We never knew Cameron and anything we put on his grave is a gift to him. All we can put there now are fresh flowers.

"If the council had a heart, they'd never be proposing this."

Ian also said he did not believe mementoes would affect maintenance.

Clr John Smithson, council deputy leader and Cabinet member responsible bereavement services, said the last thing they were trying to do was sneak the changes in.

He said he knew about the conditions in cemeteries mentioned by the funeral directors.

He added: "It's a matter of resources. They are fully aware of that.

"The sort of thing we are looking to remove is fences and graves with a lot of things on them.

"We will seek the deed- holder's approval, but if they say no we will say we have to look at the greater good. If we can't maintain the grave we are going to have to move things.

"That's going to be in very, very few cases."