THE grandmother of a boy killed in a road crash has begged council chiefs to let families keep roadside memorials to loved ones.

Basildon Council is set to launch a consultation on the future of the shrines.

They are commonly left on verges and pavements by families of those killed in road crashes and other tragedies.

The council is working with Essex County Council – which is responsible for Basildon’s roads – to “manage the placement” of flowers and other tributes.

They also want to make sure friends and relatives visiting roadside shrines stay safe.

But relatives fear the consultation could result in them being forced to remove the memorials.

Jean Furness, 78, of Curling Tye, Basildon, said the memorial to her grandson Craig Furness, on Upper Mayne, Basildon, helped her remember him.

She said: “We all go down there on the anniversary of Craig’s death and we have a vigil.

“If anyone tries to make us remove the shrine I will take them to court.

“When I go to Upper Mayne I feel close to Craig, I feel like he’s there because that’s where he lost his life.

“It gives me and my son Paul comfort to go to the memorial, it makes you feel like you are doing something.”

Craig was just 18 when the car he was a passenger in crashed into a tree. The former De La Salle School pupil died instantly and the driver of the car, a boy then aged 16, was given a referral order and banned from driving.

Craig’s memorial, on the central verge separating the two carriageways on Upper Mayne, is yards from another floral shrine.

It marks the spot where dad-of-two Steven Curtis was mown down aged 23 by a drink driver, as he crossed the road on September 29, 2009.

Malcolm Buckley, Basildon councillor responsible for the environment, said no decisions had been made yet.

He said: “At some of these memorials, people are putting their own lives in danger to visit them.

“What we don’t want is a family, who are already bereaved as the result of an accident, being wiped out at the roadside.

“Our staff, who maintain the verges, also have to work around these shrines and in some cases they are of such a size that it can make it hazardous.

“We have to bear in mind that over a period of time there will be more accidents, and we don’t want to end up with a grass verge that is full of memorials.”

A report on the future of the memorials will be considered by Basildon Council’s cabinet in December.