GRIEVING families are the focus of a new campaign to encourage them to have their loved ones cremated and their ashes left in Kirklees.

The council has built six cremation vaults in Slaithwaite Cemetery and a further half-dozen at Huddersfield Crematorium to show what is on offer.

The council has done this to gauge interest. The vaults are made of granite and are about 2ft tall, 1.5ft wide and 2ft deep.

A report put before senior councillors says the council `loses revenue' on the remains of more than 2,100 loved ones when families decide to take their ashes elsewhere.

The report said people decide not to put the ashes of people close to them in Kirklees cemeteries because of the poor quality and limited choice of memorials.

But under new plans officials hope to bring in extra money by cremating more people and storing their ashes on council land.

If a family takes up the offer of a vault, but then decides on another option, the council will offer the second-hand vault for other families searching for a final resting place to use.

The report says: "Bereavement Services propose a 20-year agreement at a cost of £750, which includes the first 80 letters (gilded) of the plaque inscription.

"Additional letters would be charged at £1.80 each. There would be an option to extend the agreement for a further 10 years at a cost of £300 or 20 years for £575".

Ian Birks, of funeral directors TW Birks, said charging people every 20 years seemed like a form of emotional blackmail.

He added: "What are they going to do with the ashes after 20 years if you don't want to pay? At the moment you can have a plaque for 10 years. That's just not long enough.

"Twenty years is better, but it hardly qualifies as your final resting place."

But Bereavement Services manager Anne Munns said the new memorials were about more than making cash.

 She added: "Five of the ones in Huddersfield have already been sold. In Slaithwaite Cemetery we had run out of space for the underground internment of cremations, so this is a logical step.

"If people want to remove the ashes they can. But at the end of the 20-year period if they do not renew or wish to remove the ashes then we will scatter them in our burial grounds and crematoria.

"We will agree this with the families when they buy the 20-year lease."