A New Crematorium To Serve Bereaved Families in Congleton and Surrounding Towns
An ideally located, independently run Crematorium for Congleton, Biddulph and surrounding areas, providing a personal and individual service for local bereaved families.
We believe that it is time for bereaved families in Congleton and surrounding towns to have access to a local crematorium, free from the long journeys and the stretched, tired facilities of existing crematoria.
Instead, we want to create a beautiful place, sympathetically designed within its natural surroundings, able to offer somewhere peaceful and personal for each individual funeral. New crematoria have been built elsewhere, such as Vale Royal in Northwich, to raise standards of care. Our proposal at Brereton, on the western edge of Congleton, promises to provide something similar for this area.
Set down in the landscape, enhanced with layers of planting, it will be the perfect discreet setting.
The Need For A New Crematorium
Building a new crematorium at our site off the A534 would reduce journey times for local residents. Currently bereaved families are served by crematoria in Macclesfield or Bradwell (Newcastle-under-Lyme) with Stoke (Carmountside), Crewe and Northwich offering more remote choices.
A reasonable journey time is commonly defined as under 30 minutes for a funeral cortege but these existing crematoria do not meet this basic need for funeral parties from Congleton, Biddulph and the surrounding areas.
Macclesfield crematorium is a converted Victorian burial chapel. It is tired and outdated, situated in a historic cemetery with limited parking and lacking many of the facilities that bereaved families expect today. Crewe crematorium is similar and whilst some improvements have taken place recently, it is still from a bygone age, unable to meet the needs of modern funerals. Carmountside crematorium opened in 1940 and on average, holds ten funerals a day. Mourners often have to queue outside in all weathers at these crematoria, due to short service intervals, creating a conveyor belt experience.
Macclesfield Crematorium
Crewe Crematorium
Carmountside Crematorium
Bradwell crematorium was at least purposely designed to hold cremations but is now over 60 years old and is also relatively busy. New crematoria in Northwich offer a much more suitable setting for funerals but are too far away to be a reasonable choice for residents in this part of east Cheshire. Our proposed new crematorium would finally allow local families to have a personal, dignified service with a minimum of an hour allowed for each funeral in a beautiful, natural setting, in facilities designed for today’s needs.
Finding the right location
An extensive search has taken place to find a suitable location which is reasonably accessible to the population it is intended to serve. Unique restrictions apply to the siting of crematoria, most notably Section 5 of the Cremation Act 1902 which states: “No crematorium shall be constructed nearer to any dwelling house than 200 yards (182 metres) except with the consent, in writing, of the owner, lessee and occupier of such house, nor within 50 yards of any public highway.” The 200-yard restriction effectively rules out urban areas and forces new crematoria to be located on sites outside settlements. Space is also required within the site to provide the right landscaped setting.
This severely limits the suitability of brown field sites, which are typically targeted for higher density residential development. Ultimately, for Congleton, as with many other places, there is no alternative to a countryside setting. In identifying a suitable location, care has been taken to avoid more sensitive landscapes, as well as areas of high flood risk, ecological sensitivity or heritage significance.
All 65 of the new crematoria built in the UK in the past ten years have been set on green field land. Planning inspectors accept that crematoria have to be built in a countryside location close to the population they intend to serve.
Our proposed site meets all of the necessary criteria and is the conclusion of an exhaustive search. Development can be carefully screened with extra planting enhancing the existing features to create a self-contained landscape, free from neighbouring views with funerals conducted in privacy for the benefit of mourners and residents.
Landscape and Design
We believe that we have found the right spot for our discreet single-storey building, @450m2, to nestle into the landscape.
Sensitive design will match the local character with Cheshire red brick and slate alongside timber cladding and a smaller plain tile roof. The building will be screened on all sides with trees, hedgerow and a green living wall. This should ensure it blends into the existing landscape and be respectful of its position within the countryside.
A 100 seat multi-faith ceremonial room is at the heart of the building along with a spacious waiting room, lobby and toilets at both the entry and exit from the chapel. 94 car parking spaces, including 6 disabled bays, have been wrapped in planting and softly finished with permeable gravel to help blend into its countryside setting.
We plan to provide a beautiful setting for funerals, blessed with extra trees, plants, flowers and hedgerow with the grounds eventually resembling a mature parkland.
Just 10% of the site is planned to be developed with the rest left as a green landscape to ensure that it is a place of peace and remembrance, free of the pressure and congestion of historic crematoria.
Technical (highways, sustainable drainage)
All funerals will arrive via the A534. A mixture of permanent hard surfaced car parking and overflow gravel parking is proposed for visiting families. As with many funerals, there is a high percentage of carsharing to reduce vehicle miles and from the assessment of travel distances to alternative facilities, there would be an overall reduction in private car mileage. The layout of the proposal ensures there is good circulation and a separate route for the funeral cortege.
Development is not proposed in a flood zone although there are watercourses nearby. The proposal allows for sustainable drainage for surface water from the building and hardstanding areas, including water storage and management on site. This is designed and tested to achieve a lower run-off rate than the current green field. It also accounts for future climate change, meaning there will be positive water flow and quality management on land that is currently not managed. Surface water quality can be maintained by natural filtration methods. Elegy would maintain the sustainable drainage infrastructure as part of their long-term landscape management regime.
The Environment
Carbon Neutral - The crematorium would include the latest developments in advanced filtration and abatement equipment, making it “clean to air” with no smoke or odours. Using the very latest technology and heat recovery, the crematorium will be one of the cleanest and energy efficient crematoria in the UK and one of the first to fit NOx (nitrous oxide) abatement. The existing intensely grazed field of low ecological value will be improved to a landscaped parkland offering an abundance of tree planting. As well as providing a beautiful, natural setting for funerals, a full ecological survey has been undertaken which confirms that our plans will provide a rich habitat for local wildlife, greatly improving the ecological value of the site.
Biodiversity Net Gain (BNG) - There is a statutory requirement to increase biodiversity by 10% on a site after development has occurred. The current biodiversity of the site has been surveyed and using the national BG calculator metric, we expect the development to result in biodiversity gains greater than the statutory requirement. This means that the ecological and landscape enhancements, including a greater range of native planting, will benefit the local environment. A full ecological survey has been undertaken which confirms that our plans will greatly improve the ecological value of the site. Ultimately people want to hold funerals in a beautiful, natural setting.
Public Exhibition
Elegy would like to hear your views on our proposed development so these can be taken into account before submitting a planning application. A public exhibition will be held on Thursday 15th May at the Congleton Masonic Hall, 44 Mill Street, Congleton CW12 1AB, from 12noon to 7pm for local residents to hear more about the plans and submit their comments. Alternatively, you can download the Consultation Document below and submit comments using the online form.
Updates & Information
For further information, please download the Consultation document below.
Comments and Feedback
We would appreciate your comments on our proposals and would be pleased if you could complete the comments using the form below: