A New Crematorium To Serve Thurrock.
A beautiful place, sympathetically designed within natural surroundings, offering somewhere peaceful and personal for each individual funeral.
Thurrock Crematorium Ltd was formed so that the local bereaved families could have a crematorium of their own, able to meet today’s expectations, easily accessible and free from the congestion and pressures that blight existing crematoria.
We have been working on this mission for some time and whilst Thurrock Crematorium is a new company, our Managing Director, Richard Evans, has unrivalled experience in providing high quality, sensitively designed new crematoria for communities across the country. This included the new service at Maldon which was opened at the end of last year and recently became the first crematorium in the country to achieve a 100% score from the Federation of Burial and Cremation Authorities (FBCA) for compliance. As the FBCA commented: ‘This outstanding result sets a new benchmark for excellence, and we extend our congratulations to the team.’
We hope to provide something similar for Thurrock and surrounding areas. A beautiful place, sympathetically designed within its natural surroundings and able to offer a peaceful and personal setting for each individual funeral.
Meeting Today’s Needs
We believe that it is time for bereaved families in Thurrock 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 Brentwood, to raise standards of care and our proposals to the west of Orsett 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.
- Basildon is the 2nd busiest crematoria in the UK – holding 3840 cremations in 2023 (the last published figure) with South Essex also relatively busy (2600 cremations per annum). The average for a UK crematorium is @1500 cremations per year.
- Both Basildon and South Essex have had to add a second chapel to try and meet growing demand. This leads to more funerals overlapping with families and funeral directors complaining of a conveyor belt experience. It is not uncommon for four funerals to be at the crematorium at the same time which reduces the individuality of each service.
- The demands on the two crematoria are particularly strained during the winter when demand (and need) is at its highest.
- Neither Basildon nor South Essex are within a 30-minute funeral party drive time of key Thurrock communities once lower cortege speeds are taken into account. This adds unfair stress at the most difficult times in people’s lives and is seen as key evidence of need by planning authorities.
- Demand for cremation is rising as is the number of deaths each year.
Building a new crematorium at our site off the A128 would reduce journey times for local residents. Currently bereaved families tend to be served by Basildon (Pitsea) or South Essex (Upminster) with Brentwood and Chelmsford offering more remote choices. However, none of these crematoria are within an acceptable journey time for funeral parties from the main centres of Thurrock, such as Grays, Tilbury, Chadwell St Mary and Chafford. A reasonable journey time is commonly defined as under 30 minutes for a funeral cortege and the existing crematoria choices do not meet this basic need.
A Carefully Chosen Site
An extensive search has taken place to find a suitable location. Care has been taken as well to avoid areas of high flood risk or ecological sensitivity. In addition, 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 rule effectively rules out urban areas and forces new crematoria to be located on sites like the proposed which is close to the population it needs to serve. Space is also required to provide the right setting.
This severely limits the suitability of brownfield sites, which are also typically reserved for residential development. Ultimately, there was no alternative to a Green Belt location especially as all potentially suitable land is designated as Green Belt.
Crematoria are special cases with eight crematoria built in the Green Belt in the past three years. Planning inspectors accept that crematoria have to be built in a countryside location close to the population they intend to serve and there is often no choice but to use Green Belt land to meet this need. The proposed site meets all of the necessary criteria and is the conclusion of an exhaustive search. The slope of the field will allow the development to sit down discreetly against a planted backdrop in a self-contained landscape, free from neighbouring views with funerals conducted in privacy for the benefit of mourners and residents. All funerals will arrive via the A128.
Landscape and Design
Design - The design of the crematorium is sensitively moulded to sit discretely within its landscape setting. The simple building form combined with the use of natural materials and a carefully considered colour palette will enable the crematorium to blend gently into the countryside, reflecting a rural vernacular of low lying un-complicated structures, softened by the layering of trees and hedgerows . The arrival into the site will be reminiscent of turning into a local country lane, whereby the building and the car parking are perceived as part of the overall setting rather than being dominant.
The building itself is designed to appear welcoming, with the form being sub-divided into distinct elements, highlighting the clarity of use and movement. The porte cochere creates a clear visual marker, gently denoting the entrance. The chapel and crematory space is contained in a slightly taller structure, giving a sense of hierarchy to the composition. Access to the chapel is via the porte cochere with an adjacent waiting room. A generous lobby forms an ante-room to the chapel itself – allowing the ability for larger funerals to be comfortably catered as an overspill space. The exit from the chapel and subsequent departure route towards the floral tribute is carefully designed for discretion and the avoidance of a crossover between those arriving and leaving.
A sustainable approach has been taken to the drainage across the site and these features are incorporated into the proposals in the form of attenuation, ponds and rain gardens.
Landscape - The landscape proposals have been designed to compliment the high quality architecture of the crematorium and respond sensitively to the local site character and context.
The site provides areas for quiet contemplation, with formal and informal footpaths, seating and areas of water. Woodland glades are proposed, with areas of species rich wildflower meadow which will enhance the existing woodland edge to the south of the site and provide benefits to ecology.
A sustainable approach has been taken to the drainage across the site and these features are incorporated into the proposals in the form of attenuation, ponds and rain gardens.
New native trees, species rich hedgerows, scrub and flowering sensory planting is included throughout the site to compliment the built form and soften views. The layout has also incorporated and retained key vistas across the landscape from the building, and back towards the woodland. Key vistas on the approach into the crematorium along the access road have also been carefully planned to screen views of the car park and building for parties arriving.
A memorial garden provides a more formal and quiet space for contemplation, with space for memorial trees, seating and naturalistic planting. Elegy would ensure the long term establishment and management of the landscape through a long-term landscape management regime.
Technical (highways, sustainable drainage)
Access is provided to the proposal via the A128. 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 by the provision of a local facility, 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. As part of this highway safety, capacity and types of travel have been considered. The results of which are:
Highway Safety
- The site access has been designed to the highest trunk road standards approved by the Department for Transport.
- A right turning lane is provided to ensure that any vehicle waiting to turn right into the site does not block other traffic on the A128.
- Visibility for drivers waiting to emerge from the site will exceed the minimum recommended distance for an access on a 50mph road.
- Average speed cameras on the A128 ensure that all traffic is within the 50mph speed limit.
- The access design will be assessed for safety by an independent reviewer at both the design and construction stages (Road Safety Audits).
Highway Capacity
- The crematorium operates out of peak times with services between 10:30am and 3:30pm.
- average number of vehicles per funeral is 20 and can be comfortably accommodated.
- There will be no issues related to queuing at the access due to the very low flows using the site access.
Alternative Travel Modes
- Many studies have confirmed that there are no walking or cycling trips to a crematorium.
- For those without access to a car, a Travel Plan will be available on the Crematorium website. This will include the following:
- A register for car sharing opportunities amongst mourners
- Telephone numbers for local taxi firms to provide journeys from bus/train stations
Development is not proposed in a floodzone although there are watercourses nearby. The proposals allow for sustainable urban drainage, which include water storage and management on site from the building and hardstanding areas. 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.
Energy and 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 land will also be converted from an agricultural field of low ecological value to a more natural parkland offering an abundance of rich habitat to local wildlife. 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
Biodiversity Net Gain (BNG) - There is a statutory requirement to increase the total amount of biodiversity by 10% on a site after development has occurred. Elegy has established the current biodiversity of the site and using the national BG calculator metric, anticipates to exceed the biodiversity improvement. This means that the ecological and landscape enhancements, including a greater range of native planting will, benefit the local environment.
Public Exhibition
A public exhibition is due to be held on the 27th February between 12 noon and 7.30pm at Orsett Hall for local residents to hear more about the plans and submit their views. Alternatively, you are able to submit your views using the form below.
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: