A COUNCIL has been cleared by the local government watchdog after thousands of headstones were laid flat following the death of a boy.

The six-year-old was killed when a 5ft headstone fell on him in Grove Road Cemetery, Harrogate, North Yorkshire, in July 2000.

Following the accident, Harrogate Borough Council inspected more than 18,000 headstones across the district and found 6,443 to be in a dangerous condition, and arrang-ed for them to be laid down.

Six people complained to local government ombudsman Patricia Thomas that they had not been notified properly.

Mrs Thomas has now revealed the findings of her investigation, in which she found no maladministration by the authority.

In her ruling, she said: "Overall, the council appears to have adopted a minimal risk-safety first approach and this is understandable in the context of the improvement notice and following the tragic death of a child."

Mrs Thomas pointed out that following the accident, the council was required by the Health and Safety Executive to speed up its existing programme of checking the headstones.

"The complainants alleged that the council thereafter failed properly to notify them of action on the headstones of relatives and tested headstones too vigorously, thereby needlessly laying many of them down," said Mrs Thomas.

She said that, with hindsight, it was possible more headstones than necessary were laid down. However, she was unable to find the council's testing of them was obviously flawed, nor to confirm specific allegations of rough handling.