NEWS that dogs are to be allowed back into Truro cemetery has been met with mixed feelings by visitors.
Following a change in the rules set by the city council earlier this month, the No Dog signs will be replaced at Truro Public Cemetery with signs reading: 'All dogs are to be kept on a lead at all times'.
The council's parks committee heard there had been difficulty enforcing a ban and decided to relax the policy.
Graveyard visitors said the ban had been effective during the day but forced pet-owners to walk their dogs on cemetery grounds under the cover of darkness, making it difficult for the cemetery manager – the sexton – to police the ban.
A local man, who asked not to be named, said: "Since the signs went up a few years ago you do not see people walking their dogs during the day.
"They come up here in the dark and let them off the lead instead. The caretaker gets abuse from them when he asks them to leave."
But Charles Kent, 81, from Chacewater, said: "I have been coming here for 30 years and have never seen anyone up here with dogs.
"I have never seen any mess. There is no problem with dogs."
He welcomed the decision of the parks committee, saying it might encourage more people to bring dogs to graves of loved ones, which might help with grieving. "If they are on leads then that's OK," he said.
Another anonymous visitor said: "Dogs should not be allowed in a graveyard. It is not a place for an animal. They (dog walkers) have got plenty of places they can walk their dogs. Why should they walk them here."