A garden of remembrance at a city centre crematorium has been branded “a bog land” with overgrown heather and weeds.
Bridge of Don resident, Christine Sheriffs, has claimed the area at Aberdeen Crematorium is impossible to walk around without wearing wellington boots, and following a visit on Good Friday, called it: “The most depressing place I know”.
Mrs Sheriffs said her mother’s ashes were scattered in the garden, but there were no flower holders or a tap for fresh water. And while she visits at different times of the year, the ground is always the same.
She added: “It has been like this for the last couple of years.
“They seem to have done some work up there and now you can’t walk around it because it’s so wet underfoot.”
Mrs Sheriffs said she also leaves silk flowers for her mum, but every time she returns they have disappeared. She believes “someone picks and chooses” which items are left and which are thrown away.
Fed up with the problems, she has written to Aberdeen City Council.
Hazlehead councillor Martin Greig said he had followed up “various complaints” about the area over the years.
These included dogs fouling the gardens, tyre marks from lawnmowers and boggy ground.
He declared that the latter issue was “a continuing worry”.
He added that plans for the new 3,000-home Countesswells development would also mean a road passing close by, and offered his view that “the gardens should be a place of peace and reflection, rather than next to a busy road.”
“Visitors should have access to a tap because many people like to bring flowers and have vases.
“There are written rules on what you can take into the garden and what you can leave and there would be a concern if items were to be left for a long period.
“But I think people should be able to take flowers and things in the knowledge the area is being tended to properly.”
An Aberdeen City Council spokesperson said: “We will consider any concerns Christine Sheriffs has raised in her letter, and will deal with them in an appropriate manner.
“We will respond directly to Mrs Sheriffs in due course.”
