A grieving mother says she can't mourn the loss of her daughter properly - as a council has ordered her to remove the fence around her baby's grave.

Hollie Bourne, from Folkestone, has been left "frustrated and angry" as other parents have been allowed to keep similar structures at Hawkinge Cemetery.

But Folkestone and Hythe District Council bosses say the fence around Ava Guzman-Bourne's grave needs to be removed by Tuesday as it prevents the grass from being cut.

Ms Bourne says when she went to the funeral directors to see Ava, who died during a difficult birth, she signed a letter stating she would not put up a fence around her daughter’s plot.

The family had never been to the baby garden before, so signed the declaration assuming that no other plots would have fences.

But Ms Bourne says she was "overwhelmed with the amount of fences that were in the baby garden".

“We started to question why others had fences and Ava wasn't allowed one," the 23-year-old explained.

“They’re using Ava as an experiment saying she’s in a new plot and not allowed certain things.

"Ava went through enough in my pregnancy and we’re not having it.

"It’s not fair; she’s a baby at the end of the day."

Ava was stillborn in July after Ms Bourne went into labour at home and Ava's shoulders became stuck.

“She didn’t even get to open her eyes, she didn’t even get to take her first breath, her first cry, nothing," she added.

“She cannot even rest in peace because all of this is going on around her and it just makes me so angry.

“First of all, who says a baby garden is problematic for gardeners? I think the grieving families have more of a problem than gardeners do to cut some grass.

“One gardener said to us ‘why should your daughter be any different to these babies?'"

Ms Bourne is also fighting for answers after a report by the Healthcare Safety Investigation Branch (HSIB) found 'the outcome may have been different' if Ava was born in a hospital.

Because Ava was deemed large for her gestational age, a plan had been drawn up to induce labour at 40 weeks at the William Harvey Hospital in Ashford.

'We understand the grief that Hollie and her family are experiencing...'

However, guidance in the HSIB report states this should have happened at 39 weeks.

Ms Bourne, who visits Ava's grave with her four-year-old daughter, says the fence is "our way of keeping her safe".

Ava's plot is in a new area next to an old baby garden at the cemetery.

"There are no words to explain how frustrating and how angry it makes me," she said.

“The council is making these rules, and they don’t have to suffer the way that we do and they’re singling her out and discriminating her.

"I’m lost for words, it just doesn't make any sense at all."

A Folkestone & Hythe District Council spokesman said: “Fencing and other items mean that the lawn area cannot be kept clear for necessary maintenance and grass cutting.

"We want to maintain this new area to a high standard and we do set out what is permitted in the interment form agreement.

“The standards have not historically been enforced in other areas of the cemetery which has caused difficulties in keeping it as neat and tidy as families expect.

“We understand the grief that Hollie and her family are experiencing and our thoughts are with them at this time.”

On Tuesday, Miss Bourne's friends and family plan to go to Ava's grave to protest against her fence being taken down.