PLANS to build houses in the garden of a cemetery lodge in Southampton have reignited a furious row between the council and campaigners.

Southampton City Council’s decision to evict cemetery superintendent Jim Emery from his home at Hollybrook Cemetery last year sparked a campaign to overturn the move.

But campaigners say they are now taking legal action and have accused council chiefs of forcing Mr Emery out early to free up the property and its garden for council housing.

That comes after city housing boss Warwick Payne unveiled plans to build council properties – which could be two homes or four flats – at the site.

Both Cllr Payne and former environment and transport chief Asa Thorpe categorically deny the campaigners’ claims, with Cllr Payne saying plans for the new buildings only surfaced at Easter this year – five months after Mr Emery left his home.

Campaigner Dave Extance, from Millbrook, said his group is taking legal action as Mr Emery’s redundancy notice says the post was deleted to make savings of £13,000.

But they believe the council did not allow Mr Emery to stay in his post on reduced pay until he retired in 2016 because they wanted to look at developing the lodge and the garden for council housing.

Mr Extance said: “Is it probable that the council wanted to build on this land, and the only way they could have done this was by making Jim Emery redundant?

“I believe so, and our legal advisors also believe this to be the case especially after Cllr Payne admitted the plans for the site.”

Cllr Payne said: “There is no truth in Mr Emery’s job being deleted so that homes could be built at the site, because Mr Emery’s job was deleted by the previous Tory administration and not by ourselves, so how could we possibly have a plan for Hollybrook lodge when it wasn’t our decision whether Mr Emery’s job should be retained or not?”

Saying a plan to build in the garden was first proposed to him around Easter this year, he said: “We haven’t got to the stage where there are any detailed blueprints.

“I appreciate that the Emery family and their supporters are keen to know what the council plans to do with the lodge.

“Since the lodge became part of the council housing stock, my priority has always been to provide a roof over the head of a family in acute need, and I’m unwavering in that.”

The council is now looking to knock through the grade II listed wall at the site to create access for the potential new houses, although Cllr Payne said using existing access at the lodge would be a back-up plan.

Cllr Thorpe said Labour had inherited the situation from the Conservative administration.

He added: “There are lots of allegations that have been thrown around, but no allegations or any evidence of wrongdoing has appeared, and it won’t because there isn’t any.

“Because it was a tied property [a house owned by an employer and rented to an employee], my decision was to return that back to general housing stock.”

Conservative group deputy leader Jeremy Moulton said his party had deleted Mr Emery’s post, but that they would have been “flexible” about him remaining at home.

He said: “These new revelations about building homes open up a lot of questions about why they were so keen to remove Mr Emery from the property.

“I also think it is utterly inappropriate to build flats in a graveyard.”