CONTROVERSIAL plans to curb the number of memorial benches and trees installed in natural settings across the district have come under fire from the Deputy Lord Mayor of Bradford.

Council bosses and countryside groups want to limit and control the positioning of such memorials to preserve the purity of beauty spots.

The authority has now imposed a temporary ban on processing any new applications until a public consultation process is completed which will lead to a new consistent policy across all its parks and countryside.

But Deputy Lord Mayor, Councillor Roger L'Amie, has criticised what he called a "mean-spirited attitude".

"I feel better understanding would be gained if more importance were given to the views of elected representatives on the council who know local people's thoughts, rather than more weight being given to countryside groups," said Cllr L'Amie (Con, Baildon), who is also chairman of Baildon British Legion.

"My feeling is that priority and consideration should be given to those bereaved people who are effectively wanting to do a public service by paying for benches or appropriate trees and are not wanting the kind of idiosyncratic memorials that have recently appeared in our churchyards and cemeteries.

"I think all this is an exaggeration as there is no problem with benches and trees which are appropriate.

"I also find it hard to accept the suggestion they might suddenly be 50 new benches appearing in Shipley Glen.

"And it is important to note that such areas are far from natural landscapes and have only formed by two thousand years of human habitation.

"Saltaire is now a World Heritage Site, but one could argue that is only because a Bradford industrialist desecrated the once virginal Aire Valley."

Cllr L'Amie cited an example of a family wanting to honour a life-serving nurse who died while walking on Baildon Moor and said he feared new rules could upset well-meaning folk.

"It could lead to anxiety and disrupt what they see as public spirited action by rejecting things on spurious grounds," he said.

Councillor Val Slater, the Council's executive member for planning, said consistent regulation was needed for the district.

"We can see there are two sides to this argument and people will feel very strongly about it," she said.

"But at the moment we haven't got a consistent policy across the whole of our countryside and parks and we feel we should have one."