FAMILIES and friends of loved ones buried at Newtown Cemetery feel "let down" at the messy state it's in.

County Councillors in Newtown have received complaints from people who have been to visit their loved ones at the cemetery recently.

Grass has been left uncut for some time and rubbish can be seen lying in parts of the cemetery.

Cllr Joy Jones told The Powys County Times that she has had people in tears as they told her of the sadness and distress that visiting the cemetery in such a bad state of upkeep is causing them.

Cllr Jones said:"I am disappointed to have been contacted by so many different people who have family and loved ones buried in Newtown cemetery and feel let down

"On Saturday evening I was contacted by a member of the public who had been left extremely devastated by their visit to the cemetery that day

"The person was in floods of tears as they told me of their sadness and distress that they had encountered that afternoon when visiting the graves of their child, and their partner and one of their parents who had all laid to rest there

"They had found the only thing they had with them which was a pair of scissors and attended to cut and tidy the graves, but to no avail as the grass and weeds were too long.

"It wasn’t only their graves that were affected but the whole cemetery was in a terrible mess, with long grass but the worse were all the weeds and especially the huge thistles."

Cllr Jones said that she has been raising the poor upkeep of the cemetery for some time with officers of Powys County Council and sad the commonwealth war graves, there also needed attention

"It is an awful situation when people are left broken and in distress due to what they feel is complete disrespect to their loved ones.

"Family members find comfort visiting their loved ones and the last thing they need is to be confronted by such chaos and mess, it should be a haven of peace and tranquility."

A spokesman for Powys Council said that officers had been to the cemetery and had not been able to see rubbish lying around the grounds.

Cllr Phyl Davies, Cabinet Member for Highways, Grounds and Street Scene, said: “I have visited Newtown Cemetery today (Wednesday, June 13) and I’m concerned about the current grass-cutting regime in some parts of the cemetery.

“I will raise these concerns with officers and look at how we can improve grass-cutting in Newtown Cemetery. I would like to apologies to those who have been upset at the look of the cemetery when they have visited it recently.”