Work starts on £600,000 scheme to solve Hartlepool cemetery flooding

Parts of Stranton Cemetery, including a number of graves, have become swamped with standing water after heavy rain in recent years.

Hartlepool Borough Council says surveys found that a naturally-occurring layer of clay up to 10 metres (approximately 30ft) thick prevents water draining away.

At an extraordinary meeting of the council last month, councillors approved £600,000 for the cemetery flood alleviation scheme.

Over the next 12 weeks, the council will be drilling hundreds of vertical bore holes in the flood-prone areas to allow water to pass through the clay and drain naturally away.

Next spring when the ground is firmer small gravel-topped drainage trenches linking the tops of the bore holes will be added to further improve the drainage.

The council says neither the bore holes nor the trenches will encroach onto the graves themselves and the work itself will be carried out as discreetly as possible with minimum disruption to the normal operation of the cemetery.

The project follows a council pilot scheme trialled in one of the worst affected parts of the cemetery since winter 2018.

Councillor John Tennant, Chair of the Council’s Neighbourhood Services Committee, said: “The flooding has been very upsetting and I understand the distress it has caused to families with loved ones laid to rest in the cemetery.

“Our pilot scheme has been very successful, taking away most if not all of the water, and we have received a lot of positive comments from visitors to the cemetery, so I am delighted that we are now able to start the project in full.

“I would like to reassure people that – just as in the pilot scheme - the work will be carried out very carefully and the drainage will not encroach onto the graves themselves.

“I would also like to thank people in advance for their patience and understanding while the work is being carried out – it will be done as discreetly as possible with minimum disruption to the normal operation of the cemetery.”

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