'To Let' sign at Cornish cemetery upsets residents

It's advertising a disused chapel in Mevagissey

Cornwall Council has come under fire for being insensitive after it placed a “to let” sign at the entrance of a cemetery. The councillor for the area has contacted the authority several times asking for it to be moved after being contacted by unhappy residents, while a local has said it is “insulting” to family members who are buried there.

As part of the council’s Vacant Chapel Scheme, ten buildings including chapels, former toilet blocks and an apple store, are being advertised for rent. All the buildings, which are no longer in use, are located at Cornwall Council-owned sites and require refurbishment.

The sites are being offered on a 15-year lease, subject to negotiation, and where significant investment is needed there will be a rent-reduced period in recognition of the works required. All of the details were posted on the council’s Facebook page last Friday but it has led to comments criticising the local authority for its “blunt approach”.

One sign in particular has led to concern. Stating ‘TO LET Disused Chapel / Building to let’, the Cornwall Council sign has been attached to a wall at the entrance to Trewinney Cemetery at Mevagissey, just a few metres from graves.

A resident said: “To be blunt, seeing a huge great sign saying ‘to let’ on the wall of my local cemetery is insulting to our loved ones buried there.”

The Conservative councillor for Mevagissey & St Austell Bay, James Mustoe, agrees and has contacted the council on a number of occasions asking for the sign to be moved elsewhere.

He said: “While I understand the reasoning behind Cornwall Council wanting to devolve or otherwise lease assets that are otherwise going unused, such as many chapels of rest in cemeteries across Cornwall, I am concerned about the rather blunt approach they are taking in doing this. In particular, I have been contacted by a number of residents who are concerned about the rather garish and out of place ‘to let’ signs that have sprung up on cemetery walls across Cornwall while this process is going on.

“For example, at Trewinney Cemetery in Mevagissey, one that has recent graves and is visited by many people to spend time reflecting and remembering, including my own family, the council has seen fit to put up a prominent sign right on the entrance which I think is totally out of keeping with the area. Along with the other signage that is already there, I think this is one sign too many, particularly in our AONB.

“More-over the ‘property’ being advertised is in actual fact a derelict shed. I have raised this several times with the council and asked that the sign be relocated to somewhere a little less intrusive, and will continue doing so until they see sense and move it.”

We have approached Cornwall Council for a response.