COUNCIL workmen are to repair broken gravestones that posed a danger for the public.

Rev Mark Jones, the vicar of St Leonard's Parish Church, Church Street, Padiham, said attempts have been made to trace the families of the 300 fenced off gravestones that were found to be unsafe.

Now the vicar fears a huge bill, with the church having to pay for headstones belonging to families that cannot be traced.

Burnley Borough Council is now due to start working repairing the stones, which should cost the church around £1,500.

Rev Jones said: "Some were repaired last year and we have started the process of making others safe, but it is not going to happen overnight."

Now the council has stepped in to try and make some of them safe by using a hoist to lift the stones and bedding them in concrete two feet deep. The work, on some of the unsafe stones will take four workers two days to complete.

Rev Jones said: "The borough is doing this as a trial run to see what would be involved and whether it would work for all the gravestones. The last resort would be to lay them flat, but we'd like to be able to keep them vertical."

Simon Goff, parks services manager, said: "The church is paying for us to send a team into the cemetery.

"By the end of the two days we will have a better picture of how long it takes to do each one and what is involved. This will enable the church to put together a programme of work they can fund.

"The intention is to return the cemetery to a safe condition as quickly as we can so the public can gain access to the memorials."