A major renovation of an Oldham churchyard which contains war graves is underway after years of requests from the vicar of the neighbouring church.

Reverend Dr Paul Monk of the Holy Trinity Church on Church Street East said renovation of this size at Waterhead Graveyard had never been carried out by the council but had been called for for more than a decade.

He said: “In living memory, which goes back about 70 years, no one recalls anything of this size being done”.

Oldham Council leader Amanda Chadderton said the renovation was long-overdue but the delay in starting work was due to a number of reasons.

She added: “The process to secure funding, surveying the area, gaining Diocesan agreement on the method of works, and programming it in to fit in with other scheduled works takes a substantial amount of time.”

The work is scheduled to last six weeks and includes refilling the cavities of graves at risk of collapse.

Pathways are also being straightened to make the site more accessible to visitors.

Rev Monk said has was relieved that work had finally started after a lack of maintenance had left the graveyard an eyesore and had prevented people from being able to visit.

He explained: “I probably receive more complaints about the graveyard than absolutely everything else put together – and it doesn't even belong to the church.”

The Waterhead graveyard opened in 1847 and closed in 1997 - after its plots become full earlier in the decade - and ownership was passed over to Oldham Council.  

Three war graves can also be found there, for Walter Dawson who died aged 24 in 1917, R. Maurice Kershaw who died aged 22 in 1943, and James Gardner who died aged 27 in 1944.