GRIEVING families left devastated after grave mementoes were binned in a council purge are to lobby the Welsh government in a bid to see rule changes over grave personalisation and a consistent policy implemented across Wales.

Torfaen council caused an outcry this summer after it sent grave wind chimes and solar lights remembering dead children to landfill on health and safety grounds.

The Labour council acknowledged it had agreed to a “targeted clear up” of mementoes at its cemeteries in a bid to enforce its grave personalisation rules which dated back to 2011.

Campaigners collected more than 5,000 signatures calling on council chiefs to leave children’s graves alone but Torfaen has yet to amend its grave personalisation policy.

Now, the grieving parents are planning to go to the Welsh Assembly with a new petition in an attempt to ensure that the same rules are applied at every resting place in the country.

Mum-of-seven, Catherine Board, said the grave of her stillborn son, Brandon, had items removed without prior notification at Cwmbran Cemetery this summer after the purge following an apparent mix-up about her new address.

The broken solar lights were taken on what would have been her son’s 10th birthday.

Ms Board, 39, of Thornhill, said: “They haven’t changed their attitude.

“We thought we’ll go to the Welsh Assembly to get them to change their mind on things and force them to be consistent so that every borough has got the same rules. Then it doesn’t matter where you bury your child.”

Independent Torfaen Cllr Liz Haynes is assisting the borough’s Graves Action Group with their campaign.

She said: “The policy has caused severe distress to people.

“I sometimes feel it has been pretty heartless.

“Yes rules have been in place in Torfaen cemeteries for many, many years but they have been rarely enforced, particularly with babies’ graves.

“It is not going to go away because they have done a clear up and are starting afresh.

“This has been quite traumatic hence the reason to go to the Welsh Government to ask there are consistent regulations across Wales.”

Torfaen council said it was working with members of the Graves Action Group to find a way forward.

Council chiefs are to discuss potential amendments to their cemetery personalisation rules with a report expected to be presented to the council this autumn.

A Torfaen council spokesman said: “As part of our routine cemetery policy we will write to grave owners, providing we have a current address, giving them two weeks to remove any unauthorised items.

“If items are not removed, we will remove them and store them for up to a month to allow grave owners the opportunity to collect them.

“If a grave owner has had items removed and not been written to then we would need to investigate this on a case by case basis.

“We know that some grave owners and visitors to our cemeteries are unhappy with our current policy and we are working with a small group to establish a way forward.”

To sign the new petition, follow this link: www.assemblywales.org