REPEATED tributes left at the roadside by loved ones will not be kept by Solihull Council due to storage issues if new plans are given the go ahead.
At present memorials left in honour of those in fatal road accidents are removed and stored by the council either up six weeks after a death or two weeks after a funeral has taken place – if it has been delayed.
However the Transport and Highways Decision Session will be discussing changes to the policy introduced in 2012 at a meeting on March 28 (Thursday).
In documents released ahead of the meeting it reveals plans for tributes such as flowers, soft toys and cards to be removed after the time-scale as set out in 2012 but only retained in storage for family collection on the first occasion only.
The report states: “The option of storing items at Woodlands and Robin Hood cemeteries is no longer viable, as there are no longer reception facilities available.
“A temporary store is being used in the interim, but this cannot continue long term.”
The report says after weighing up the options it is considered the Council must cease to retain memorial items on an unlimited number of occasions as this seriously undermines the policy and if retentions were permitted this could encourage and condone the return of the memorial for that number of occasions.
It concluded it is considered that items should be retained on the first occasion only.
It added where possible families will be notified before the removal of memorials by a police liaison officer and a notice will be put up at the site explaining the policy.
The families will also be directed towards suitable permanent locations for memorials within the Council’s cemeteries, the report adds.
It said since the policy was introduced it has been largely successful in managing the issue however it was never envisaged that some memorials would be replaced every few days.
The report said: “Unfortunately the constant replacement of a memorial can have motives beyond being part of the grieving process and it has become apparent that continually storing personal tributes for collection is counter-productive to delivering the Council’s policy.”
