GRIEVING families will be charged a one-off £100 “management and maintenance fee” when new headstones are erected at graves in the county’s cemeteries.

East Lothian Council unanimously agreed the introduction of the new scheme, which will “commence with immediate effect”.

Councillor Norman Hampshire, the local authority’s spokesman for housing and environment, said: “Our aim is to provide and manage burial services to the highest possible standard. “With a growing population, the demand placed on our burial grounds is increasing. “Our new strategy will help us provide a sustainable and environmentally friendly service that works with communities to meet local needs in a compassionate and professional way.

“The management fee will help us to make sure that our cemeteries are safe, pleasant and in good order for families and friends visiting the graves of their loved ones.” East Lothian is home to 29,000 headstones, a figure which is, obviously, growing each year.

According to Stuart Pryde, the council’s principal amenity officer, “a significant risk” to safety exists from the current condition of about 8,000 headstones.

Now, councillors have taken steps to stop modern day headstones from becoming dangerous and also to look after the headstones of the past.

Mr Pryde told a meeting of East Lothian Council that “tomorrow’s fees will cover today’s memorials”.

He said: “The council recently adopted an approach of installing foundations for new headstones and requires that monumental sculptors erect stones in accordance with current industry practice.

“Therefore, the likelihood of recently erected memorial headstones presenting risk in the future is greatly reduced.

“The fee charged by the council for construction of foundations is cheaper than that traditionally applied by monumental sculptors and therefore represents good value to the customer.” A series of inspections of headstones in the county’s cemeteries has recently been completed but there remains a requirement for the local authority to inspect all headstones on a minimum three-yearly cycle and to undertake any repairs to any stone which is found to be in danger of collapse.

Mr Pryde added: “In order to minimise the long-term financial burden to the council of undertaking these inspections and repairs, it is proposed to introduce a Management and Maintenance Fee, payable on approval of an application to erect a memorial headstone, of £100 over and above the current foundation fee of £133.” Councillor Stuart Currie was happy with the idea and felt it was an improvement on the approach of laying down a headstone for health and safety reasons, which is used elsewhere.

He told the council meeting that he found the latter practice “quite disrespectful”.

A council spokeswoman added: “Council approved the introduction of the management fee with immediate effect.

“This will give lair holders the comfort of knowing that the investment they make in buying a memorial headstone will be protected for the long-term.

“The burden of inspecting and repairing memorial stones will remain with the burial authority in perpetuity and today’s fees will go a long way to covering the cost of inspecting and repairing the existing memorial stones.”