BEREAVED families in Tadley have been told that they must remove excessive tributes to loved ones in the town's cemetery or they will be taken away and given to charity.

The threat, issued by Tadley Town Council, has angered residents with relatives interred at the site.

Among them are Helen and David Davies, who buried their two-day-old son Mathew at the site in Church Road, Tadley, after receiving permission from the Home Office to move his body from a site in south Wales nine years ago.

"This is a place I come to remember all my children," said Helen, 36. "I go there four to five times a week.

"What would you rather see - a grave with a lot of flowers over it or an unattended grave?

"For many people this is the last contact they have with the person they loved and to be told by the council that they should have stopped grieving after six months is absolutely disgusting."

The town council informed residents of the move in a letter sent out last week. It stated that the council would enforce regulations to only allow tributes to loved ones to be placed in appropriate containers on the headstones.

If current tributes were not taken away by the family, they will be removed at the council's discretion and given to charity unless collected within two weeks.

An angry delegation met town clerk Ron Darley and outgoing town council chairwomman Pam Gladdish at the burial ground on Tuesday morning to voice their concerns.

The group said they were disappointed by the way the council had handled a very sensitive issue.

Mr Darley told the emotional gathering the letter was sent out to enforce existing regulations following complaints from members of the public about some of the graves in the burial ground.

"There was no easy way to handle this issue," he said. "It is our own fault for allowing the situation to get out of hand, but we need to start enforcing the guidelines for the burial ground."

The council has called an extraordinary general meeting on Monday to discuss the graveyard issue. It has agreed not to take further action until after that point.