TWO of the district’s three crematoria are to be replaced as part of a major £17m shake-up of bereavement services.

Nab Wood and Scholemoor crematoria would both be closed under the council plans, with two new facilities built - one in south Bradford and one in the Aire Valley.

Oakworth crematorium near Keighley would remain open but its ageing cremator would be replaced.

And more land needs to be prepared to expand a Muslim burial ground at Scholemoor cemetery, with current capacity due to run out in the next five years.

The plans have been drawn up in response to “major concerns” about the authority’s ability to deliver a service that is fit for purpose in future if the facilities stay as they are, a new report says.

The report, by Steve Hartley, strategic director of environment and sport, says: “The district’s six cremators, three at Scholemoor, two at Nab Wood and one at Oakworth, together with the ancillary equipment, are almost 20 years old and are operating four years beyond the manufacturer’s stated working life.”

By doing nothing, they would risk breakdowns and a “major service failure”, he warns.

As well as being old, none of the cremators currently have a system to filter out mercury, which is found in tooth fillings but creates pollution when burnt. This would be addressed by the replacement scheme.

The plan also notes that more and more Bradford residents are choosing to cremate their loved ones in neighbouring districts, where crematoria have bigger, park-like grounds, facilities for audio or video tributes and even the capacity to webcast funerals on the internet.

The £17m cost of the upgrade scheme would be recouped over the next 15 to 20 years by the revenue from bereavement fees, the report says.

Mr Hartley advises council bosses against the option of retaining and refurbishing the existing Nab Wood and Scholemoor buildings.

He says this would cost £3m due to the building works required. The sites are also said to have limited facilities and poor access.

And the plan points out that Scholemoor crematorium is in a predominantly Muslim area - a religion which favours burial - and a facility in south Bradford, where cremations are more popular, would be more suitable.

A site would be identified next year, with the crematorium built in 2018.

A site for the Nab Wood replacement would be found in the Shipley or Keighley area in 2019, with work taking place in 2020.

Under the plan, Oakworth crematorium could then be upgraded in 2021.

Councillor Sarah Ferriby, the executive member responsible for the bereavement service at the Labour-led council, said: “It is important that we invest in future provision to make sure we can continue to provide the professional, caring and flexible service needed by grieving families in the district.”

But the council’s opposition Conservatives have called for greater clarity about where the new crematoria would be built.

Its leader, Councillor Simon Cooke, said it was “unacceptable” for the proposal to suggest closing facilities without setting out where the replacements would go.

He said: “If what we are going to do is close existing, well-established locations like Nab Wood then I think there are going to be a lot of people really quite concerned about that and there may be some upset.”

Meanwhile, the expansion of the Muslim burial ground at Scholemoor - one of two run in partnership with the Bradford Council for Mosques - has been welcomed.

The ground currently only has capacity for the next five years but the plan to use a nearby disused allotment site would extend this by a further decade.

Zulfi Karim, vice-president of the Council for Mosques, said there was increasing demand for burial plots, due to the ageing population and a growing number of Bradford's Muslims choosing to be buried here rather than in south Asia.

He said: “Now, what happens is the second and third generation want to be buried close to their families.

“In previous years the number of burials was in the dozens a year. Now, it’s significantly into the hundreds.”

The plan will go before the council’s Executive for approval on Tuesday but the business case for each stage of investment will go through further examination.

MORE TOP STORIES