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Search the Public Notice PortalPROPOSALS for a mortuary to store up to 700 bodies in a York business park would see people’s remains kept in an undignified, industrial facility, objectors have claimed.
Objectors, including funeral directors, have opposed the conversion of a mobile network switching centre in York Business Park, Nether Poppleton, into Pure Cremation’s main mortuary for the North East.
Liberal Democrat ward councillor Anne Hook, who is among those objecting, said she was concerned about storing bodies near homes and feared the impact on nearby hotels and other businesses.
Pure Cremation’s plans stated operations at the site would be dignified, quiet and discreet and meet the needs of those who needed their loved one’s remains collecting without delay.
Opposition to the application comes after the company lodged its plans with City of York Council in June.
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They would see Unit 1 Hudson Court, in the business park’s Great North Way, converted to house the facility which would operate all day, every day, if plans are approved.
Works would include the addition of six cooling units so bodies collected from residences, care homes and hospices can be stored there.
They would arrive in private ambulances in body bags and be checked on arrival before being placed in coffins.
Racks five coffins high would store the bodies for three to four days before being transported on to the company’s crematoriums in Hampshire or elsewhere or to third party facilities.
Up to 35 staff would work at the site which would be closed to the public and monitored by CCTV.
But four objections, including from Rural West York ward’s Cllr Hook, since the plans were lodged.
Concerns have been raised about plans for the mortuary in York
(Image: Newsquest)
Funeral director Jordan Young said the proposals were absolutely appalling and would be detrimental to the care, dignity and safe treatment of the deceased.
Mr Young added he was worried about some of the hundreds of bodies stored there decomposing if they arrive and are stored days after death.
The funeral director said: “It is extremely inappropriate for the remains of loved ones to be stored at an industrial facility which holds 700 deceased.
“It is the most horrific thing I have ever heard of being proposed, it is completely undignified.
“It risks becoming a super mortuary which resembles a mass storage facility more related to a factory than a mortuary.”
Mason James Myers said he feared the facility would have negative knock on effects on York’s bereavement sector, including florists, caterers, burial grounds and the council’s crematorium in Bishopthorpe.
Mr Myers said: “I strongly believe that York and surrounding areas is one of the best when it comes to bereavement care.
“Bereavement is something which we should treat respectfully and with dignity, not something we should be turning into what sounds like a production line.”
Objector David Barker said the round-the-clock operation of the site could cause traffic and resulting logistical problems at the business park.
Cllr Hook said approving the mortuary could put other businesses off moving to the business park.
Pure Cremation’s plans stated the facility would be tucked away in the corner of the business park and it would not be obvious from the outside what it was.
They added it would also support jobs in the wider funeral industry locally.
The company’s plans stated: “The use is a low key, discreet operation, with occasional light traffic coming and going to the site throughout the course of the day, apart from peak times when even then the traffic flows are still modest.”