Crematorium gets £1.7m revamp to help cope with obesity crisis

York Council announced yesterday that it will carry out a six-month programme of work to the city’s main crematorium from Monday next week.

The £1.7m renovations will also introduce a heat recovery system to recycle the warm gases emitted from the chimney during the cremation process.

The recovered gases will then generate heat to be used within both the chapels and neighbouring buildings to save an estimated 10 per cent on gas bills each year and reduce the crematorium’s carbon footprint.

The council is to introduce two new cremators – one large and one standard size – to replace the existing three incinerators.

The Yorkshire Post has learned that there have been rare instances where the council has been faced with having to turn down requests for cremations as the deceased was too large for the current incinerators.

The manager of York Crematorium, Gary Fewkes, said: “A large cremator is being installed so we’re able to offer a service that can facilitate customers of all sizes.”

The revamp, which is being funded by borrowing over a 15-year period, is the latest move in the Yorkshire region to overhaul services to tackle the problems of obesity.

In March the Yorkshire Post revealed that Harrogate Borough Council had drawn up plans to widen its regulations for the size of burial plots as oversized coffins have caused neighbouring graves to collapse.

The latest NHS statistics have revealed that nearly a quarter of adults in England are deemed obese.

It is predicted nearly half of men and over a third of women will be obese by 2025.

The revamp of the York Crematorium, which opened in 1962 on the outskirts of the city in Bishopthorpe Road, is also being conducted to meet new legislation to reduce mercury emissions caused by incinerating dental fillings.

Councils across the country are faced with meeting stringent regulations which have been announced by the Government.

The two cremators will have a new filtration, or mercury removal, capability which all crematoriums across the country are required to have to reduce the emissions by 50 per cent by 2013.

Local authorities are required to have the filtration carried out by December this year.

York Council cabinet member Coun Dafydd Williams said: “Since the 1960s, the fabric of the York Crematorium building has remained the same, but the number of cremations has steadily increased to 11 services a day, which has led to the second chapel being rarely used due to lack of capacity.

“At a time when customers need our support more then ever we need to ensure that we can provide the best possible services.

“Whilst our staff at York crematorium provide an excellent service to customers, our facility must reflect this too, which is why this refurbishment is so important.”

Improvements in the main chapel will see new carpeting, lighting, seating and decoration introduced, while access to the existing floral tribute area will be enhanced.

Webcasting is also being introduced to allow grieving relatives who cannot attend services to view the service from their home. The size of the crematorium’s small chapel will be increased to accommodate an extra 20 mourners and a separate entrance and exit will be introduced.

The plans for the revamp of the crematorium were approved by the council in 2010, but work is only now about to begin.

A council spokeswoman stressed there will be no disruption to services while the improvements are carried out.

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