FEES for burials and cremations may rise to create a cash pot to fund vital repairs in Swindon's cemeteries.

At a meeting of the council's Transport, Environment and Neighbourhood Services Commission, it was revealed that a survey of 2,257 memorials and headstones showed 208 to be unsafe.

Since many of the stones are old, it is unlikely that the families of the deceased will be successfully traced, which means the council would be left footing the bill should an accident involving a faulty headstone occur.

At the meeting, councillors backed proposals to carry out a full risk assessment of all Swindon's churchyards in the new year.

Memorials which present a danger will either be removed or laid flat. Stones of historic interest will be repaired.

Chairing the meeting, Liberal Democrat Councillor Stan Pajak said graveyards were a vital source of historic information."They should be preserved, because they hold a lot of history in Swindon,"

He gave an example of headstones which held traditional Wiltshire family names and even drew comparisons between Swindon's graveyards and the Pere Lachaise cemetery in Paris, resting place of Oscar Wilde and Jim Morrison. "In Paris, one of the city's biggest attractions is its graveyard," he said.

"I suggest setting up a heritage trail to discover Swindon's past."

Councillors backed a recommendation that a reserve fund for maintenance work be set up using money from an increase in burial and cremation fees.