An elderly lady who was told she would be fined if she took her dog when she went to put flowers on her son’s grave has highlighted a Fenland ruling which bans dogs from graveyards.

Dogs were banned as part of package of measures that were put in place to keep the environment clean.

The order was enforced nearly 18 months ago but was brought to attention after an elderly lady contacted her local councillor to complain.

The lady, who visits her son’s gravestone at Eastwood Cemetery in March to lay flowers, was told she would have to leave her dog at home or outside the cemetery in the future.

The lady has visited the grave regularly since her son was killed in a road traffic accident.

Richard Cassidy, corporate director in charge of environment and health and services, told Cllr Jan French that as a result of public consultation the order was enforced in October 2012.

He said: “The council received over 600 complaints in 2011/12 relating to the control of dogs or dog fouling not being cleared up and as a result of this in 2012 members requested that we adopt greater powers relating to the control of dogs across the district.

“As part of the work to adopt new powers to control dogs we also looked into replacing the no dogs rule in our cemeteries with a more enforceable Dog Control Order.”

The order came into force following a consultation process that lasted throughout the summer of 2012 and included public notices, press coverage, posters and talking to community groups, said Mr Cassidy.

“As a result of the consultation we found that the majority of respondents felt that dogs should remain excluded from open public cemeteries and an order was agreed by cabinet in September 2012,” Mr Cassidy said.

“In this particular case I am not aware of the personal circumstances of the complainant and would be happy to arrange for myself or our service manager to meet with her to understand the particular situation in a little more detail and see if we can find a resolution to the problem.”