‘OUR LOVED ones have the right to rest in peace.’

Friends and family wanting to pay their respects at an Eastleigh cemetery are currently being stared down by a 94-home development just yards away.

Council bosses are being accused of showing no respect for the dead after the ‘scandalous’ development has seen the houses built ‘practically on top of the graves’ in Eastleigh.

Pensioner John McMahon’s wife Mary is buried at the site after she died in 2005 from a brain tumour.

The following year, his brother Sylvester died of cancer aged 74 and is buried alongside Mary.

But when Mr McMahon went to visit his family members’ graves, he was faced by the Vivid Homes development.

He said: “Our loved ones have the right to rest in peace.

“I just cannot believe they are building houses practically on top of the graves.

“The first time I saw these houses being built I couldn’t believe my eyes.

“I am very upset and other families are too. There’s no respect for the dead, this is absolutely ridiculous.”

Since his wife passed away, Mr McMahon has been going to the cemetery every week to visit her, but said now things will not be the same.

He is asking council bosses not to allow any further development in the area.

He added: “Councillors have no right to do what they are doing. They should have talked to people who have their loved ones buried here. I was devastated when they started building the homes, they have got to show respect.”

Borough councillor Mark Balaam, from the Independent Liberal Democratic Group, said: “It is yet another example of this council rushing an idea through without careful consideration of all of the problems.

“Being able to mourn loved ones with dignity and peace should be a fundamental right of all residents.”

A spokesperson for Eastleigh Borough Council refuted the claims, saying there is a ‘small joint boundary’.

He said: “The new development site is mostly separated from the cemetery by allotments but there is a small joint boundary with the existing cemetery.

“Extensive landscaping and screening will be provided in summer this year once the development has been completed.”

The development was put forward by Vivid Homes in 2015, and given the go-ahead by councillors. Vivid Homes said: “As stated by the borough council, the site is mostly separated from the cemetery by allotments and where there’s a small joint boundary, landscaping and screening will be provided.”