Start of Fenland crematorium but rival company still wants one at Chatteris
A DIRECTOR of the company building Fenland s first crematorium said today it was bizarre that a rival firm still hopes to build another crematorium 10 miles away. Nick Owen, a director of Mercia Crematoria, was speaking at a champagne lunch today in Mar
A DIRECTOR of the company building Fenland's first crematorium said today it was "bizarre" that a rival firm still hopes to build another crematorium 10 miles away.
Nick Owen, a director of Mercia Crematoria, was speaking at a champagne lunch today in March to commemorate work starting on a crematorium off the A141 by pass.
Mr Owen wondered if the other company - Memoria Crematorium Ltd- was carrying on with their application "in a fit of pique" after his own company got planning approval first.
The rival firm still has a planning application pending with Fenland District Council to build a crematorium north of the South Fens Business Centre in Chatteris - one of the towns Mr Owen's company considered but rejected.
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He said the March site was ideal and he was confident that, once complete next summer, it would attract support from the whole community.
Today's ceremony included the planting of a tree by the Lord Lieutenant of Cambridgeshire, Hugh Duberley.
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Set in six acres, the Fenland Crematorium will be fitted with the latest technology to control emissions and is expected to carry out 1200 cremations a year.
"The site is being extensively engineered to preserve the flood plain capacity and assist in necessary drainage," said Mr Owen. "The site will have very low building cover- little more than a pair of domestic bungalows- and very extensive landscaping and tree planting."
The Rev Anthony Chandler, rector of St Peter's Church, March, told guests he saw the planting of the first tree "as the first step to enhance the beauty of this area".
The rector added: "We give thanks for the environmental care, the sensitivity and the skills of those people who are building and developing this site.
