New crematorium in Huntingdon could be open by next summer
An artists impression of what the new site could look like - Credit: Archant
A multi-million pound crematorium and cemetery in Huntingdon could open in July 2020, it was confirmed this week.
A multi-million pound crematorium and cemetery in Huntingdon could open in July 2020, it was confirmed this week.
The plans, which were submitted by Huntingdon Town Council last year, will see a crematorium, café and memorial gardens located off Kings Ripton Road, in Huntingdon.
The application was given the go-ahead for a second time in January after an initial application was quashed by the High Court last year.
The town council has confirmed to the Hunts Post that construction of the new crematorium will start in September, after a tendering process is completed in August.
Cemetery Development Services Ltd has been commissioned by the town council as a consultant throughout the planning application process
The planning application includes: a new town cemetery accommodating more than 2,000 traditional burial plots, a columbarium and mausoleums, a garden of remembrance and natural burial ground. There will also be a bespoke designed chapel, seating up to 120 mourners.
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Town council grounds staff will also be carrying out the landscaping for the new crematorium.
Huntingdon Town Council clerk, Phillip Peacock said: “We are really looking forward to this going ahead. This is a community space where people from Huntingdonshire and beyond can come and enjoy. Any extra money that is made from it will be pumped back into the community, which we see as positive.”
A rival application made by Dignity Funerals Ltd to build a crematorium a short distance away at Sawtry Way, in Wyton, was refused by councillors at the January meeting of Huntingdonshire District Council that saw the town council’s plan approved.
Dignity Funerals has appealed to the Planning Inspectorate to overturn the refusal, and is awaiting a decision.
The town council’s first application was approved in December 2017 by the development management committee at the same meeting in which the first Dignity scheme was thrown out.
However, after an appeal from Dignity, the High Court ruled the original town council permission should be quashed and the plan resubmitted.
