CHESHIRE West and Chester Council has explained the reason for the poor maintenance of a Winsford churchyard this summer.

The update comes after a woman whose parents are buried outside St John the Evangelist Church complained about the state of the grounds.

Margaret Willis, who is from the town but now lives in Derby, called the Guardian saying the grass at the Delamere Street church had grown over the top of headstones, making it difficult for people to pay their respects to lost love ones.

Margaret, whose parents Mary and Andrew are buried at St Johns, said: “Someone has said that it was cut at the start of the year, but one man was walking around and couldn’t find his parents’ grave.

“We took some shears with us, and I have been and cut down some strands to distinguish where my mum and dad are. The grass is coming up over the head stones – it’s heart-breaking.

Last week, the Guardian published a reader letter on a similar theme, which claimed the grass had only been cut twice in seven months and left to grow to around three feet tall.

Cheshire West and Chester Council cabinet member for environment, Cllr Karen Shore, explained: “The council was notified on July 11 by the company which previously maintained some of our sites that they could no longer provide the service with immediate effect.

“We worked quickly to create a new, dedicated team and visit and assess each site. Given that we were four weeks behind schedule, we prioritised those most in need of grass cutting and maintenance and are now close to being back on track.

“The new team were working at St John the Evangelist’s Church in Winsford for three days last week (Wednesday, August 3 to Friday, August 5) and completed all of the grass cutting work needed. Now that a clear rota is in place they are due to return in four weeks’ time.

“We hope that local residents can appreciate the difficulty of the situation and apologise for any inconvenience caused to visitors.”