Row breaks out at inquiry into rival Staffordshire crem schemes
Crematorium planners were branded 'desperate and cynical' by a rival as an inquiry into appeals for two potential sites new Wolverhampton was launched.
A joint inquiry began at South Staffordshire Council yesterday into plans to build crematoria on the old Wergs Estate site near Codsall and in Broad Lane, Essington.
Both were rejected in 2015 along with plans for crematoriums in Perton and Four Crosses as they were deemed inappropriate developments for green belt land.
But due to increasing pressure on Bushbury crematorium, the council has had a rethink. Both sites could get the go ahead, but it is likely only one will.
Dignity UK is the firm looking to build near Codsall.
Peter Village QC, representing the company, accused Westerleigh Group, the developer behind the Essington plans, of claiming they could provide double the amount of cremations they said in their original application, with no evidence to back it up.
He said: "Their planning application said they would be able to deliver 479 cremations.
"Now they are saying 910 and the council seems to just be accepting this figure without any evidence to support this. They have simply taken the figures at face value.
"This is a desperate and cynical attempt to undermine the Dignity scheme."
Peter Goatley, representing Westerleigh Group, said in opening that there was a 'quantative and qualitative' need for a new crematorium, and if only one was to be favoured, it should be the Essington scheme.
He said: "The population is increasing and there is going to be more of a need for crematoriums in the future. Around 80 per cent of funerals are cremations.
"Bereaved families should not have to be made to wait and they should not have to drive further than half an hour. There needs to be a certain level of dignity for people at such difficult times."
Ian Ponter, representing South Staffordshire Council, told both barristers that because the plans were for green belt land, they must prove there are special circumstances to move forward.
The Essington plans were originally rejected after 600 people signed a petition against them, with loss of green belt land and the close proximity to a primary school major concerns.
Back in 2001, 300 people from Tettenhall Regis signed a petition against plans for a larger crematorium just metres from the Wergs Estate site.
