“It’s disgusting!” – those were the words of a constituent when he saw the state of the grounds of the civic church of Stoke-on-Trent – Stoke Minister.

The Tories cut the budget for looking after greenspaces in their last budget – long before Covid-19 and lockdown. This is what they planned the Minster grounds to look like.

Stoke Minster also has the highest concentration of listed buildings in the city. The council maintains these and had just spent considerable sums on repairing the 4 tombs of the Smith family of Penkhull which had fallen into disrepair. It is a shame that they now look such a mess!