Unease at 'bodies in garage' plan

A ROW has broken out over plans by a funeral director to store bodies in his garage.

Lee Summers has asked councillors for permission to set up an undertakers’ business at his semi-detached home.

Bodies would be stored in the garage of his house on Claypit Lane in Sowood, near Halifax, between Outlane and Stainland.

But his plans have upset his neighbours with six of them writing to Calderdale Council objecting to the proposal, which goes in front of planners this evening.

He wants to start a small funeral service business in the garage under his cottage and has asked Calderdale for permission to convert his garage into a chapel of rest, where bodies could be stored in the days between leaving the mortuary and being taken to the funeral service.

Planning officers have recommended the proposals for approval subject to conditions.

Mr Summers, 34, has been an undertaker for several years and, in May set up Golcar Independent Funeral Director in Leymoor Road.

He said: “This has been blown out of all proportion. It know it sounds horrible storing bodies in a garage but if people could see what it’s like – how nice and spacious this underdwelling is – I prefer that term rather than a garage – they might think differently.

“My standard of care will be second-to-none. My idea is to get away from the Chapel of Rest style which can be quite cold and to go for something in a lovely rural setting with flowers.

“I have storage facilities in Golcar for Huddersfield but this development would serve the Calderdale area.”

In a statement to the council, he wrote: “I intend the business to be called Springhead Funeral Service, which will provide families with an affordable cremation service.

“I intend to pass on to my families the option of affordable funerals without compromising on care.”

Mr Summers believes Sowood needs an undertaker. He wrote: “There are no other local funeral directors in the village, the nearest being in Elland and therefore I intend to help and serve people in the area at their time of need.”

Mr Summers said he would protect the privacy of the chapel, which is less than 30 metres from some homes on Claypit Lane. He wrote: “The entrance to the chapel of rest is concealed from the roadside by the high perimeter wall and banking so is therefore out of site from traffic and passers-by. The windows will have reflective glass, providing the privacy needed.”

But Coun Keith Watson, (Con, Greetland and Stainland), said: “I will be speaking against this proposal with the residents at the planning meeting.

“I would have no objection to him placing a plaque on his property advertising his funeral services but it is the physical storing of deceased bodies in his garage that is the problem.

“I have some personal experience in the funeral business – my father-in-law operated such a business for many years in West Vale – and I can see no need for him to have bodies going there and all the comings and goings that will entail, possibly over a 24-hour period.

“There’s a funeral home at Elland so there’s no need for this facility. I am totally opposed to these proposals.

“There is a certain smell associated with dead bodies and it is a smell that lingers and I can understand why his neighbours would not want that.”

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