FIFTY large memorial stones in a graveyard are to undergo urgent safety work after structural engineers completed a survey in Scarborough's Manor Road cemetery.

Now, the borough council is planning to remove dangerous headstones and lay them flat in a two-week programme of work to eliminate potential risk to the public.

Head of environmental health Andy Skelton said: "This work will be done in a sensitive and sympathetic manner and we will ensure that the stones are carefully laid down with the inscriptions uppermost, which is not often the case when these stones fall or are pushed over.

"We are talking here about a relatively small number of memorials, given how many there are altogether in the graveyard. They date back more than 100 years and are in excess of two metres in height.

"The ones we shall be tackling are those we feel pose the biggest potential risk of falling over. We are adopting a safety first approach."

Anyone with queries about the work should contact environmental health officer Steve Pogson on (01723) 332506.