London Road cemetery to reopen fully as felled tree that damaged graves is removed

[dutchman]

High winds during Storm Pia brought a huge tree down



A Coventry cemetery where a fallen tree smashed a number of graves is due to reopen fully on Thursday. A section of London Road cemetery in Cheylesmore has been sealed off since December 22 when a huge tree came crashing down in the high winds of Storm Pia.

Coventry City Council confirmed the tree would finally be removed on Thursday and said the stormy weather of late was to blame for the delay. A spokesperson said: "We are in the process of very carefully removing the fallen parts of the tree and the area remains cordoned off until that work is complete.

"The work has been slowed slightly due to the number of incidents caused across the city in the recent spell of bad weather, but our contractor is returning on Thursday to complete the removal work."

The spokesperson added: "The area will then be safe for officers to assess the headstones and see what work is required. We apologise for the delay and would like to thank residents for their patience."

As many as 15 graves were understood to have been damaged when the tree came crashing down. Linda Fletcher, Vicar of St Catherine's Church in Stoke Aldermoor, shared a picture of the devastation on Facebook. Remarkably, nobody was injured.

"I'm shocked by the size of the tree branch that has fallen and praying for the families whose loved ones' graves are affected," Vicar Fletcher had said. "They (Coventry City Council) are good at looking after the cemetery so it's a shame as the tree part damaged looked healthy.

"It must just have been a huge gust at just the wrong angle. It's hard to tell how many graves were damaged as it covered quite an area.

"The path was completely blocked. I imagine the debris was over 15 or so graves. And good job no one was walking on the path under it at the time."