CIVIC chiefs are being urged to install a gate or CCTV cameras at a Romsey cemetery after rubbish was dumped at the site.

Secateurs, plastic bags, a hula hoop and what appears to be a gas canister were among the items dumped at Woodley Cemetery at the start of last week.

Romsey residents Nikki Brown said she found the rubbish near the bins at the cemetery when she went there on Monday.

Now the 55-year-old is calling for action to be taken to prevent similar incidents from happening again.

Ms Brown, who works as a midwife, said she goes to the cemetery every day as her mother is buried there.

“It was by an area where you can get some water for the flowers. It looks like somebody has emptied their garden shed and just dumped it there. It is very disrespectful – just horrendous. They had absolutely no compassion for the people up there”, she said.

“I was really, really angry. It is supposed to be a peaceful place of rest and not somewhere where you discard rubbish. We all try to keep it nice for the visitors.

“It upset me. That is the place where my mum is, I want the best for her, not a rubbish tip,” she added.

Now Ms Brown is urging councillors to look into having a gate or CCTV cameras installed at the site.

“It seems to happen more and more in Romsey. There could be a sort of code-key system. That would stop other cars going in, or CCTV,” she said.

Following the incident at Woodley Cemetery, deputy leader of Test Valley Borough Council, Councillor Nick Adams-King, said: “Fly-tipping is a selfish and disgusting crime that affects everyone and costs the council thousands of pounds to clear up every year. To dump waste anywhere is a serious crime, but to do it at a cemetery is truly despicable.

“We will use every method at our disposal to find those responsible and bring them to justice. The council always looks at ways to prevent fly-tipping and in this case we are looking at various deterrents including new signage where appropriate.

“We are proud of our extremely high prosecution success rate and if we have sufficient evidence then we will see you in court.”

As previously reported, last month Test Valley Borough Council reminded residents of its zero-tolerance approach to fly-tipping.

This came after a man was prosecuted when chemicals and other cleaning supplies were dumped on a layby on the A343.

As reported, the man was sentenced to a 12-month community order, 100 hours of unpaid work and ordered to pay the council’s full clean-up and legal costs of £1,882.50.