A Putney family has been unable to visit or tend their graves at Putney Vale Cemetery for over a year after a sinkhole left the area fenced off.
The cemetery is managed by Enable Leisure and Culture on behalf of Wandsworth Council, which is responsible for the repair. In that time, the council has not contacted the family, or responded to the Wimbledon and Putney Commons Conservators, and has not replied to three requests for comment from Putney.news.
Keith Wakeley’s family has been unable to reach their loved ones’ graves 1054/1055 in Block A South, Alexander Way, since approximately March 2025. Their plot is seemingly the only one in the cemetery affected when Queensmere Pond was drained, and that the subsidence is understood to stem from that drainage work.
For any family, being cut off from a grave is hard. For the Wakeleys, the wait carries an additional weight: one of the caskets lies at 11ft 6in depth, and the family does not know whether it has been affected by the water that caused the subsidence.
A plot chosen carefully
The family had spent time in 2015 and 2016 choosing the plot with the help of the cemetery’s then-manager, Sue. Now it’s a cordoned-off sinkhole.
The 15-month wait has taken a toll. Keith told Putney.news this week that the situation had made him reconsider whether he wants to be interred there at all.
What the council and cemetery have said
The Wimbledon and Putney Commons Conservators (WPCC), who manage the land surrounding Queensmere Pond, confirmed to Putney.news that they are aware of the sinkhole and that the restoration of Queensmere itself was delayed because of it, the WPCC said.
Crucially, the WPCC said it had not been contacted by Wandsworth Council, Enable, or any contractor about who is responsible for the repair or how it will be remediated. The WPCC directed us to the council for an update on the work.
Queensmere has always overflowed into the culvert feeding the drainage network beneath the cemetery, the WPCC noted, but the sinkhole is likely the result of an existing underlying weakness rather than a new problem.
We have contacted Wandsworth Council repeatedly in the past week, asking who is responsible for the repairs, when the graves will be accessible again, and whether anyone has been in contact with the family. After we received no response, we also contacted the council’s parks team and Enable’s bereavement service. None of the three organisations have responded to our questions.
If your family has been affected
Anyone who has experienced a similar problem at Putney Vale Cemetery is asked to contact Putney.news at news@putney.news.
Complaints about the cemetery service can be made to Enable Leisure and Culture at bereavement@enablelc.org or by calling 020 3959 0090. For unresolved complaints, Wandsworth Council’s complaints process is available at wandsworth.gov.uk/contact-us/complaints. If a formal council complaint is not resolved, the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman handles cemetery and bereavement service complaints at lgo.org.uk.
