GRASS is being left to grow around graves and is creating “a jungle of neglect” because the council cannot afford sufficient mowing, the authority has admitted.

Brighton and Hove City Council says it prioritises mowing in areas of cemeteries which they think “are most visited” and will mow paths to graves in other areas when requested.

Residents complained after finding Hove Cemetery in Old Shoreham Road and City Cemetery in Bear Road, Brighton, swamped by grass.

Maria Niblett, 52, of Whitehawk, went to visit her father’s grave in City Cemetery on Father’s Day and said it was the third time she had found it overgrown.

She said: “I often go up there to put flowers on the grave. When I have complained, they have said they have not had the resources.

“It must have been like that for a few weeks for the grass to be so long. People’s relatives are up there. It is very distressing.”

Adrian Hayes, from Barrowfield Drive, Hove, said he was “horrified” to see the state of Hove Cemetery when visiting his grandfather’s grave with his grandmother on Saturday.

He said: “We were absolutely horrified at the state of the whole cemetery. It has been completely abandoned.

“Not only are all the graves overgrown with knee-high grass, but also all the public ways.

“It is a disgrace to think that what was once a beautiful cemetery now resembles a jungle of neglect.”

A council spokesman apologised and said it did its best within “financial constraints”.

He said: “The fast growth of grass in May and June is always a particular challenge for us.

“We try to maintain our cemeteries to the best standards we can within the financial constraints we are facing.

“With regards to grass cutting, we prioritise those areas of our cemeteries that we think are most visited, while cutting pathways to enable visitors to have easier access to graves in less visited areas that we cannot mow as frequently.

“We ask visitors who have specific access requirements to contact us so that we can arrange for a path to be cut as close as possible to the relevant grave.”