Wolverhampton crematorium to get £122,000 overhaul

The plans will see seating space increased for mourners, worn footpaths and roads resurfaced, concrete plinths installed at memorials and a new music system brought in as an alternative to paying for an organ player.

The money, totalling £122,000, comes from a council bereavement services refund, first established in 1998 to invest in the continued maintenance and improvements of crematoriums in the city.

Traditionally, all surplus income from the bereavement services trading account was put into a reserve fund each year.

However, this has been stopped in light of the city council's current financial difficulties.

The council believe it is now especially important to improve Bushbury Crematorium due to the increasing threat of alternative services being provided in neighbouring areas in the near future.

Councillor John Reynolds said: "There has obviously been a lot of news made about the fact all four applications to build a crematorium in Staffordshire have been turned down.

"One had been recommended for approval however and could potentially still happen if a successful appeal was made.

"This seems a good time to utilise our crematorium reserve fund to improve Bushbury and we believe it is the right thing to be doing.

"It feels appropriate that we now touch that fund and improve the facilities there.

"The expansion is good news because it should allow more people to say goodbye to their loved ones and the amount of people who want to attend funerals is constantly increasing.

"The improvement of the music system is also a positive because music can play a big part in those goodbyes and now that will come through in better quality."

A total of £160,000 remains in the bereavement services refund.

£40,000 will be spent on increasing the seating capacity in the crematoriums west wing.

The chapels at the crematorium are currently only able to accommodate up to 80 seated people and it is estimated that at up to 100 funerals each year, some mourners are having to stand during services, which has led to complaints from funeral directors and families.

The money will be spent on removing existing pews and replacing them with individual chairs, which will increase capacity by between 25 and 30 seated mourners.

The same amount will also go on repairing some worn roads and footpaths within the crematorium, while £20,000 will go towards providing concrete plinths at new memorials.

The plinths are deemed essential for stability and maintaining uniformity across the site.

£22,000 will be spent on the installation of a Westley music system, providing people with an alternative to traditional organ music, which is no longer organised by the council.

The fund will then have only £38,000 remaining.