RESIDENTS are calling for a tall fence at the Eastleigh cemetery after homes started being built ‘practically on top of the graves’.

This comes after town bosses approved plans to build 94 new homes just yards away from the graves.

Eastleigh MP Mims Davies has also stepped in and called for action.

But although civic chiefs and developer Vivid Homes said extensive landscaping and screening will be provided in summer this year, residents are now asking for a panel fence to have privacy.

Lisa Field, 41, photographer, from Netley, has a family member buried at the cemetery.

She said: “My sole aim is to have that boundary line chain link fence replaced with a 6 to 8ft closed panel fence or some sort of privacy fence put in to stop us visitors of our relatives being able to see right through directly to the buildings themselves.”

Lisa said the development is ‘disrespectful’ and ‘unacceptable’.And added: “ It’s a disgrace to all the people who are buried in this plot who’ve spent their lives putting money into the local system to then have this as the place they are laid to rest. I can’t do anything about the buildings that have gone in.

“But I’m looking for a bit more security and privacy for the graves, this side of that boundary line and the people who have to visit here.

“It’s meant to be a place of reflection and quiet time.”

The development has also been criticised by Eastleigh MP Mims Davies.

She said: “ The current administration at Eastleigh Borough Council seem at best incapable and at worst unwilling to listen to the many concerns that my constituents continue to raise over the way in which they conduct themselves on behalf of residents across the borough.

“Their delayed Local Plan continues to lay as testament to that failure.”

She added: “This development is yet another example of that ongoing failure, and I can only hope that the coming months will bring change so as to ensure that decisions such as this in future are made with residents views in mind.”

The development was put forward by Vivid Homes in 2015, and given the go-ahead by councillors.

A spokesperson for Eastleigh council said the new development site is mostly separated from the cemetery by allotments.

And added: “New screening, landscaping and fencing at Brookwood Cemetery is planned to be provided in summer this year.

“Eastleigh Local Area Committee is set to consider this issue and any additional measures at its next meeting on January 30 2018.”