AROUND half of the gravestones that have been checked so far in a safety review of Fife cemeteries have failed.

Fife Council's Bereavement Services team have been given the mammoth task of assessing 100,000 graves across the Kingdom and the majority of those checked so far are in Dunfermline Cemetery.

Figures show that of the 10,000 memorial stones that have already been reviewed, 45-50 per cent have failed.

The issue of safety in cemeteries came to the fore in May 2015 when an eight-year-old boy, Ciaran Williamson, was killed in Glasgow when a seven-foot headstone fell on top of him.

A young child was then injured at Inverkeithing Cemetery in August 2016 by an unstable headstone.

All local authorities have been asked to carry out inspections and in Fife that includes 115 cemeteries.

The percentage of gravestones that are failing – based on initial trial surveys – are expected to be between 40-60 per cent, but results for each cemetery vary and the council won't have a clearer view about failure rates until the team are further into remedial action.

Around £300,000 per year has been added to the Bereavement Services budget to enable the council to repair those that are hazardous.

Councillor Tim Brett visited the inspections team at Dunfermline Cemetery recently. While recognising this was a "massive" task, he also noted that this was a chance to keep an accurate record of gravestone names so memorial stones could be placed easily in the future.

Cllr Brett said: "The memorial inspection programme in Fife has been running for approximately 18 months and good progress has been made in dealing with the issue.

"This is a massive task to check that all of these headstones are safe but I was interested to see the work that is being done.

"At this stage, it is difficult to say how long it is likely to be before all headstones are inspected but I was pleased to have the opportunity of seeing this at first hand.

"I know that they are taking a risk-based approach to this so that cemeteries which are of greatest concern will be tackled first."

Earlier this year, the Press reported that Fife Council was proposing a 25 per cent hike in fees for burials to get the extra cash needed to replace unsafe headstones.

Alan Paul, senior manager, said: "We have an ongoing survey and headstone remedial programme to make sure our cemeteries remain safe to all who use them.

"We will continue to roll this out across Fife."