A GRIEVING daughter has vowed to keep a graveyard tidy herself following controversial plans to woodchip the cemetery.

Families have faced walking through long grass and messy flowers as Castle Point contractor Pinnacle works to keep St Katherine’s cemetery neat.

A Friends of St Katherine’s Group has been formed in the wake of Pinnacle spraying weedkiller and laying wood chips in small areas of the graveyard.

Sharon Cook’s father Bob Cook, a well known Canvey policeman who died seven years ago, is buried there.

She said: “I’ve been going down to the church for seven years since dad died and we’ve tidied up our area.

“We now tidy about eight or ten graves and when I saw the woodchips and weedkiller had been used I was absolutely gutted.

“We are trying to keep it nice, but it just looks awful.”

“We go down there and we will keep going down there to keep it tidy.

“We weren’t even consulted about this trial and as far as I’m concerned the whole thing needs to be reseeded and re-sowed.”

The council has previously claimed the layout of the graveyard means a lawnmower cannot be used.

For the past 12 months, a trial has been carried out where a small area was treated with weedkiller and then the whole trial area was laid with wood chippings which acted as a weed suppressant and a pathway between the headstones. Mrs Cook, 45, of Green Lane, Canvey added: “We go down there and pick up the rubbish and sort it out. It’s not right they didn’t consult anyone.

Their excuse is they’re doing a trial, but bark isn’t acceptable.

“People with wheelchairs won’t be able to go over it and it’s going to cause problems with flooding as it will fill up with water.

“It’s not just my dad down there, lots of people have loved ones. They need to employ a fulltime gardener.

“It shows a lack of respect.

Keeping it nice for dad is all we can do for him right now.”