The future of a £5 million mortuary in Bradford seems to have been secured, thanks to support from pathologists elsewhere in West Yorkshire and a new high-tech post-mortem examination facility.

Concerns were raised last year about the under-use of the modern public and forensic mortuary in Burnham Avenue, Bierley, Bradford, which was built to handle post-mortems for the whole of West Yorkshire.

It opened in 2009, replacing the former mortuary in Wilton Street, Bradford, following calls from coroners in the region who were concerned about existing facilities. But two years later there were still difficulties securing work from Leeds and Wakefield, and pathologists based at Leeds General Infirmary were not committed to performing post-mortems at the new centre.

That matter is still to be resolved and remains under discussion.

But the mortuary is set to be supported by pathologists in Calderdale and Huddersfield.

Suzan Hemingway, Bradford Council’s city solicitor, said: “We are in the advanced stages of discussions about transferring work from Huddersfield and Calderdale to the Public and Forensic Mortuary at Burnham Avenue.

“Although the contracts have not yet been finalised, we are confident that the revenue stream for the Burnham Avenue facility will be significantly increased this financial year.

“In addition, the multi-million pound contract for the first digital autopsy facility in the country at Burnham Avenue, which was announced by the Prime Minister last month, has now been signed and we expect work to house the scanner to start soon.”

The digital autopsy facility, to be provided by Malaysian life sciences company InfoValley, will be the first in the UK when it is installed.

Councillor Andrew Thornton (Royds, Labour), who is responsible for environment on Bradford Council, said: “I welcome the fact we are making progress on this. It has been a long time coming, but we are getting somewhere.

“It has been of enormous value to the city, and the various police forces which use it.

“It is a much-improved facility on what was there before.”