Shrewsbury crematorium sell-off to be discussed by Shropshire Council
Councillors are to discuss plans that will see Shrewsbury's Emstrey Crematorium sold off as part of a £43 million deal.
It was announced in May that the crematorium, run by Co-op Funeralcare, which leases and manages the site on behalf of Shropshire Council, will be sold on to another company.
The running of the site in Shrewsbury has been acquired by Sutton Coldfield-based Dignity PLC, along with four others around the country.
At a cabinet meeting next week, members of Shropshire Council will discuss the plans put forward by Co-op after the company decided crematorium work was not key to its success.
The crematorium has been centre of the Shropshire baby ashes scandal, which yesterday led to changes in the law.
A number of families who had their babies cremated at Emstrey were told there would be no ashes.
Co-operative Funeralcare only took over the running of the site in 2011, and said after the inquiry last year that it had invested in new equipment which is considered to have contributed to resolve the issues.
Changes in law were announced this week to ensure the same thing is not repeated and families will always have something back from a cremation.
Once the running of the crematorium is transferred to Dignity, along with the running of five rural cemeteries, the same terms and conditions of the contract will be imposed.
Currently, Co-op Funeralcare pays the council £114,600 a year to run the services, while Shropshire Council also receives a proportion of sales and burial income of about £70,000 a year.
The same financial implications for the council will be in place, so the transfer won't make any changes to how much the authority gets from the company.
Mr Candler said: "The UK cremation market is highly fragmented with local authorities owning and operating 70 per cent of the UK crematoria.
"Dignity is the largest individual operator with 15 per cent of the market.
"With less than two per cent of the UK crematoria, Co-op are very limited in their ability to shape or influence this segment of the market.
"In selecting Dignity as the preferred supplier, the Co-op believe that Dignity have the skills, resources and capability to take over the Co-op's responsibilities for the council owned sites at Shropshire and Stockport.
"Dignity has a strong reputation as an employer and expects to maintain the terms and conditions of the transferring employees for whom the move, being part of a larger crematoria operator, opens up greater career opportunities."
The plans will be discussed at Shropshire Council's cabinet meeting on Wednesday at 12.30pm at Shirehall.
