GRIEVING families are vowing to take action against Newport council's plan to ban wind chimes from a city cemetery.

The council said the chimes must be removed from Christchurch Road Cemetery after some visitors complained they make too much noise. One angry mum said she would protest in the cemetery on March 1 and another family is putting together a petition.

Janet Smith, 51, of Maesglas Road, lost her son Colin to AIDS in 1990. Seven-year-old Colin, a haemophiliac, contracted the virus from an infected blood-clotting product.

Mrs Smith visits the gave regularly and put wind chimes on a nearby tree for Colin's 18th birthday in 2001 and one for his 21st in 2004. She said: "This decision has incensed me.

"I don't know who started off putting wind chimes up there but there was one in a tree and we thought it was gorgeous.

"It sounds so beautiful. It drowns out the sound of traffic from the motorway."

Mrs Smith said she will take action to stop council officers removing the chimes on March 1.

"I want people to know I'm not going to remove mine. "I will be up there on March 1 and stay there all day. I hope others join me. I will do everything I can to stop them taking them down."

Notices went up in the cemetery saying the chimes, which are hung from trees, must be taken down by March 1.

Debra Evans' seven-year-old son Kieron died after being knocked down in Hendre Farm Drive, Ringland, in June 2002.

Mrs Evans said she will also take action to stop chimes she has put near her son's grave being removed from the cemetery.

She plans to present a petition to council officials on March 1. She said: "It is peaceful to sit up the cemetery and listen to the chimes. They are not loud.

"What harm are they doing? None whatsoever. "There is no way my chimes are coming down."

Speaking in a council meeting yesterday councillor Ray Truman, cabinet member for community safety, was questioned about the policy.

He said said some people at funerals found the wind chimes "intrusive", and claimed cemetery staff were threatened by mourners angry at their noise.

He said: "This is a very sensitive issue. It is something I will look into in more detail."

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