Lille (Brussels Morning Newspaper) – In Lille, Mayor Marleen Peters (N-VA) announced that the children’s cemetery section will have overgrown plants replaced with pebbles by early December 2025, with full restoration expected by February 2026.
As VRT News reported, in Lille, in the province of Antwerp, Belgium, the children’s section of the city cemetery has been restored after a planting incorrectly caused concern among families.
“The municipality has already removed some of the plants and replaced them with pebbles,”
says Mai.
“The children’s graves are neat again, and I’m sure the rest will follow.”
“We will remove all overgrown plants and replace them with pebbles, just like at the children’s graves.”
Marleen Peters, Mayor of Lille (N-VA)
What steps is Lille taking to restore the children’s cemetery section?
The municipality of Lille has announced plans to remove the last overgrown plants in the children’s section of the city cemetery by early December 2025. Mayor Marleen Peters (N-VA) said the work will be done when the cemetery is quieter.
“We plan to resume work in early December. It’s often quieter at the cemetery during that time, so we certainly won’t get in anyone’s way,”
she said.
“We’re replacing the overgrown plants with pebbles, like we did at the children’s graves. We’re also removing the small plants between the graves and reusing them to make the walking paths more visible,”
says Mayor Marleen Peters (N-VA).
Officials hope the cemetery will be fully restored and tidy by the end of February 2026. Workers will replace any remaining wrong plants with the correct species. The municipality said the work is part of a larger plan to keep the cemetery calm and respectful for visitors.
“It will, of course, depend somewhat on the weather conditions, but we’re aiming for the end of February. Our parks department always has extra staff helping out in the summer, and we’ll continue that this winter, so everything is definitely in order.”
The municipality of Lille first launched the ground‑cover project in the children’s section of the cemetery in summer 2025, aiming to curb the wind‑blown sand that had been a maintenance issue. Work was paused mid‑summer when it became clear the contractor had planted the wrong variety of dog‑ear, which spread rapidly and overran gravestones. Following numerous complaints from families in July 2025 and August 2025, the city halted further plantings and scheduled corrective action.
