A TOWN'S burial rules are to be relaxed to allow for more elaborate graves.

At a cabinet meeting, members of Middlesbrough Borough Council decided to relax a regulation that had banned the erection of vaults, walled graves and kerbstones.

The rule has already been relaxed in the Jewish sections of cemeteries, as it is a religious requirement of the faith that the whole grave is covered.

Now councillors have decided to allow everyone greater freedom to decide what additions to make.

Phil Harper, director of public planning and protection, said: "The reintroduction of stonemason-erected kerbstones would help to make the cemeteries more attractive.