A GRIEVING family has felt ‘unfairly treated’ by a parish council after they received a letter telling them to make alterations to the grave of their family members.

Julie Bond and her sister Linda Seward, both from Long Sutton, have deemed the letter from Odiham Parish Council about the graves of their sister and brother who died this year ‘threatening’ after it states they must level out the graves otherwise a contractor from the council will be instructed to do.

Julie’s sister Val Seward passed away in March of this year and then her brother, Rob Seward, died in May, and since then Julie has received a letter from the parish council stating that the grave site, in the cemetery off King Street, did not meet the requirements set out in the cemetery rule book.

Julie said: “I found the letter quite threatening because it is saying that someone would interfere with the grave.

“It’s still quite fresh and difficult for the family to deal with, this is just another thing on top of that which is adding to an already difficult and traumatic time.

“The letter left me and my sister feeling very upset”

During a meeting with the parish council, Julie said it was was explained there were plans to introduce a lawned cemetery to a number of rows of graves, meaning grave owners could only have a headstone with a vase on.

Graves with ornaments and flowers would need to be removed to allow the contractor to cut the grass, and the sisters were also questioned about their right to complain about the plans as they claimed they were told they “didn’t even live in Odiham”, despite Rob Seward being born in the village.

Julie has also claimed that not all families of those people buried in plots on the row have received letters about their graves and so they feel victimised by the parish council.

Julie added: “It’s really hard to deal with knowing that a contractor could come and disturb the grave, the situation has made us all very anxious and given us many sleepless nights”

The parish council’s cemetery officer did not wish to comment specifically on the about the Seward family case but did say: “It was agreed that we would revisit the grave and review the situation in a few months after giving the ground time to settle.”