Council take three months to respond to Ayr Cemetery Freedom of Information request

dailyrecord.co.uk:

Council chiefs took three months to respond to a Freedom of Information request over the Ayr Cemetery scandal. The Ayrshire Post launched a plea for answers after reporting on months of agony suffered by grieving families over the water ingress saga.

Our request on March 8 was shunned by cemetery bosses as they dealt with the crisis-hit graveyard extension.Freedom of Information requests are by law to be replied to within 20 working days.But council chiefs took until June 8 to reply – an astonishing 63 working days later.This week we were finally issued a response after threatening to lift the lid on delays within the under-fire council departments.At the time we asked how many graves had been inspected after families were left fearing loved ones were floating in 6ft of water.In a response council chiefs have told how only 13 graves were checked as part of investigations at the Holmston Road burial grounds, leaving 115 unchecked.But council chiefs have remained tight-lipped on the cost of concrete lairs at Ayr Cemetery after they revealed they were first mooted in 2015 after environmental concerns were raised.They have confirmed only one report of water ingress has been made which came on September 22, 2021 and sparked the major probe.A Freedom of Information Request is meant to be responded within the statutory time frame with South Ayrshire Council stating on their website that they will provide a reason if there are any delays.However, despite pursuing the local authority’s FOI department on several occasions we were met with a wall of silence.Last month we were told by the FOI department that “due to the current urgent situation at the cemeteries officer time within the service is being prioritised to operational