Mourners have been left disgusted at the state of a cemetery.

Some of those who visit Gravesend Cemetery in Old Road West, Gravesend, have been left outraged at how unkempt it looks.

Lecretia Barnes, from Gravesend, has been going to the cemetery regularly for the last four years to pay her respects to her brother who is buried there.

She says her mum is forced to go down with scissors to cut the grass around her son’s grave.

She said: “People pay good money for their loved ones for this. We paid thousands for him to be there and we have to cut the grass ourselves as it is always so high.

“My mum goes down there with scissors.

“It’s unbelievable how they treat people and people’s graves when we spend a fortune to keep it maintained. It’s absolutely disgusting.”

Judith Webster, who lives in Gravesend, is unhappy the section where the older graves are has become overgrown.

“I don’t leave flowers but I regularly visit my paternal forbears burial plots,” she said. “I’m wondering why the cemetery management have assumed that nobody is visiting family graves.

“The cemetery has some beautiful trees and has always had plenty of wildlife. Some of the oldest gravestones are a thing of beauty.

“There is nothing lovely about the old quarter today.”

While Julie Wilson, who recently moved away from the area, said: “It is not good, if I was a relative coming to visit a loved one, I’d be horrified.

“Our horticultural team is knowledgeable and qualified and works closely with a range of wildlife conservation groups...”

“How on earth are you meant to find them? It’s very sad.”

A spokesman for Gravesham council explained the cemetery was deliberately left to grown wild during the spring and summer to “increase biodiversity and encourage wildlife to thrive in our town centre areas”.

As a result, the council says the area has seen an increase in small birds nesting in the cemetery, woodpeckers, robins, blue tits, great tits and wrens.

The spokesman added: “We have confirmed sightings of slow worms and hedgehog habitats, both of which are protected by law under Schedule 6 of the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981, meaning we are legally obliged to leave their natural habitats undisturbed as much as possible.”

As the summer comes to an end the council says it is starting to cut back the long grass.

“We have started to gradually cut the long grass area by area, once we have conducted the necessary checks to ensure we are not disturbing the habitat of any protected mammals or reptiles.

“Cemeteries such as Gravesend are vitally important in their contribution not only to the education of young people but also to the ecological system of our town.

“Our horticultural team is knowledgeable and qualified and works closely with a range of wildlife conservation groups, following their best practice advice and guidance to create important town centre areas where wildlife can co-exist safely alongside our human residents.”