Council investigates the burning of memorial benches

Edinburgh City Council has launched an investigation into reports staff had burned memorial benches.

Photographs published by the Edinburgh Evening News on Saturday appear to show wooden benches - which had been removed from West Princes Street Gardens more than a year ago - being burned by council staff.

The burning took place at the authority's depot in the Inch area of the city, involving around 70 wooden benches which were damaged. The benches should have been recycled where possible in line with council policy.

A council spokeswoman said in a statement it was ''regrettable'' that standard protocol was not followed.

An investigation has been launched to establish why the rules were not followed.

The memorial plaques which adorned the benches, bought by people to commemorate loved ones who have passed away, were removed before the burning took place.

Council officials say the benches had been decommissioned. However, they were due to be recycled instead of burned.

When a bench is damaged, staff at the authority attempt to contact the donors who paid for the bench, leaving up to a year for them to get in touch before taking the decision to recycle them.

A spokeswoman for the council said: ''We have a very clear policy in place to decommission benches respectfully when they reach the end of their life.

This involves storing the benches and plaques and reaching out to donors to discuss future arrangements, and this was correctly followed.

Standard practice is to recycle the parts of the benches which can be reused and very regrettably this part of the process was not followed.

An investigation is under way to understand why this has happened and appropriate action will be taken.''

Wooden benches similar to the ones which were set alight generally cost £3,925, with metal versions setting donors back £1,965.