Hundreds sign petition for Queens Road Cemetery restoration

Janet Ling, whose grandfather is buried in the cemetery, is campaigning for the council to straighten gravestones and otherwise improve the state of the site.

She claims the council, who have managed the site since 1965, are responsible for “decades of neglect”, pointing to other boroughs who have restored similar graveyards.

Deputy leader Cllr Clyde Loakes, however, says the cemetery is built on land “naturally prone to subsidence and shifting” and that the council is unable to level the more than 8,000 grave plots.

Janet’s petition reads: “It is clear that there is a noticeable resistance within Waltham Forest Council to restore and rejuvenate Queens Road Cemetery.

“The site has suffered with decades of neglect and an irresponsible disrespect for those who have been lost, their families and the community that live and work around the Cemetery.”

She highlighted the Abney Park Restoration Project in Hackney and the West Norwood Cemetery Conservation Project in Lambeth as examples of other councils restoring cemeteries of a similar age.

Bilkis Atchia, one of more than 440 to sign the petition, wrote: “The cemetery is home to many of our old residents and even though they have left this world they are still of us. Their last abode deserves our respect.”

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Cllr Loakes, responsible for the environment, said the cemetery was built in 1872 on land prone to shifting and was even nicknamed “The Sinking Cemetery” by locals.

He said: “It is unfortunately neither practical nor possible to level the over 8,000 grave plots that are currently at Queens Road.

“The maintenance of individual memorials and headstones is the responsibility of the families who hold the deeds for them.”

Queens Road Cemetery is closed to new burials and the council has decided to allow longer grass and wildflowers to grow in order to encourage biodiversity.

Cllr Loakes, said this is “common practice” in closed cemeteries, which “gives native flowers and animals a safe habitat to thrive”.

He added: “We are working with the local community to create a group of proactive volunteers who can help the cemetery team maintain the site as a wildflower meadow.”

The petition to restore the cemetery can be found here.

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