PARENTS devastated after workers sent cherished mementoes adorning children’s graves to landfill have criticised new cemetery policies – with one leading campaigner describing them as the “same old rules with different words”.

Torfaen council has been working with campaigners from the Torfaen Grave Action Group to formulate revised rules that could maintain “dignified cemeteries” in the borough.

But in a fresh row over the issue, which caused an outpouring of anger and emotion in 2014, some residents feel that the council has failed to deliver any real change to the rules.

Mum-of-eight Catherine Board, 39, a leading Torfaen Grave Action Group campaigner, said: “I’m very disappointed because at the beginning they said they wanted to come to a compromise and they haven’t compromised.

“They’ve not revised the rules. They’re just worded differently. Torfaen council do what they want and how they want.”

Connie Button, the grieving mum of three-year-old Shae Brynley Button who tragically died of meningitis last April, also spoke out against the draft revised policy.

She said she received a letter from Torfaen council asking her to remove a plaque linked to a solar light she had put at her son’s resting place in Hollybush Cemetery, Cwmbran, to mark his fourth birthday.

Ms Button, 21, said: “In the letter they said solar lights disturb the peace and tranquillity of cemeteries but I don’t see how.

“No one lives there. You can’t see anything from there.

“No one chooses to have a loved one up there.”

Protestors collected more than 5,000 signatures calling on Torfaen council to leave children’s graves alone in Torfaen last year.

They argued that removing items like solar lights and windmills from babies’ graves was “heartless”.

But their pleas fell on deaf ears and Torfaen council binned prohibited items last summer.

The parents took their fight to the Senedd calling on a new law to spell out what items could be left on children’s graves across Wales, but their plea was rejected by ministers.

The draft revised cemetery rules and regulations were presented to the council’s cleaner communities overview and scrutiny committee on March 11, and are to be circulated to the council for approval next month.

A council spokesman said: “Council officers have held several productive meetings with representatives of the Cemetery Action Group and all their suggestions have been included in the revised cemetery rules and regulations.

“During these meetings the group has never suggested relaxing grave personalisation rules. Their primary concern has been that the rules are clear and applied consistently, and the amended document will help achieve this.

“We are aware that some members of the wider group are unhappy with the amendments, but we are responsible for around 23,000 graves and accept it is unlikely we can achieve rules that satisfy everyone. However, we have offered to discuss this face to face and requested that they email their suggestions if they are unable to meet in person. To date this invitation has gone unanswered.

“We have also carried out further consultation with town and community councils, and the Torfaen People’s Panel, and their suggestions have also influenced the revised draft.”