A PARISH council near Selby has been labelled insentisitive for "naming and shaming" people in a bid to sort out unstable headstones in a village cemetery.

In its latest newsletter, Hambleton Parish Council has published a list of headstones, complete with family names, where "immediate action" is required. They hope that relatives of the deceased will come forward to carry out maintenance work. But former councilclerk, Maureen Metcalf, pictured, said the action was insensitive.

The parish council says it does not want to have to flatten unstable headstones, but says it must ensure visitors to the cemetery are safe. It has named 36 plots needing immediate attention.

But a former clerk of the parish council says publishing families' names is akin to a "name and shame" approach.

Mrs Metcalf, who was clerk of the parish council from 1976 to 1986, said: "Had I been clerk, I would have really discouraged councillors from doing that. It's a very insensitive move. It leaves me with a sick feeling in the pit of my stomach."

She added: "I would have advised my members very strongly against it, and advised them to take further measures to contact people."

But current parish council chairman Dennis Healy defended the move, saying all possible attempts had been made to contact relatives.

He said: "Four times, in four newsletters, we advertised for people to check the graves and come forward, as we do appreciate it's a very sensitive problem. We asked on four occasions for people to help sort the problem out."

Mr Healy said the parish council had spent 18 months going through old burial books to find who had bought the plots, but people had moved on.

He said one elderly woman had come up from Cambridge to check a relative's headstone, but added: "Most of these graves are unattended and we have no idea who these people are. Some people did come forward and some people did rectify their graves."

He said it was essential to keep the cemetery safe, pointing to an incident last month when a headstone had toppled over as an elderly man held on to it. But James Gardner, of Chapel Street, Hambleton, said the parish council should have contacted relatives directly. He straightened his parents' headstone after his daughter spotted their name in the newsletter."

Updated: 09:53 Friday, November 18, 2005