TOWN councillors in Ringwood have reviewed cemetery fees following a complaint from a member of the public.

Member discussed fees - which were increased a few years ago - at their recreation, leisure and open spaces meeting last week.

A resident from outside the town submitted a formal complaint over the current fees for burials at the Hightown Road site.

At present it costs around £340 for residents to bury their loved ones at the cemetery and around £1,200 for non-residents.

Town clerk Steve Nash said: "The council put up the cemetery fees but recently we had a member of the public saying it was expensive. When we get a complaint we have to review it. It is the only complaint we have had in four years. And that's not bad.

"On average we bury 33 people a year. Residents from outside the town would like their relatives buried here and we don't support that because of the space. We're going to run out of land in the next 10 years. So we try to discourage that by increasing the fees."

Mr Nash said that the process was reviewed by councillors and residents local to Ringwood were asked if they were content with the current fees, as recommended by Mr Nash.

Councillors decided to keep fees as they are but a more detailed breakdown of the costs will be added to information packs for people requesting burial plots in the future.

Councillors also discussed removing the hedge at the cemetery boundary to make the visit "more bearable" for residents visiting their loved ones.

"That's to create additional space," Mr Nash added. "The hedge is now so big. People go in to spend time where they have buried ashes and we can't cut the hedge back any further without killing the roots. So we're going to cut it all back.

"People won't have to push back branches and people can have easier access to their plots."

The town council is the burial authority and is responsible for maintenance and administration.

The old part of the cemetery opened in 1864 and was approximately seven acres in size, with space for 6,000 graves and a garden of rest.

The chapel and bell tower were demolished in 1960.