Crematorium plans need reasoned debate
John Fowler refers in his letter of November 29 to “absurd claims” from funeral directors from Dunblane and Alloa that Falkiirk is too far away.
As one who works closely with both funeral directors in Dunblane, I do not believe that distance is the main issue here. Both firms will go as far as is required by a bereaved family, including Ayrshire, Oban and Argyllshire.
The bigger issue is the cost to bereaved families. Mr Fowler refers to Falkirk Crematorium, a municipal facility, as providing “a gentle public service” and dismisses the private company proposing to build a crematorium at Bannockburn, the Westerleigh Group, as “commercial opportunists”.
The service provided at Falkirk Crematorium is, for those who are not resident in the Falkirk area, the most expensive service of its kind in Scotland, costing up to £1084 as opposed to up to £833 for those who inhabit the area.
The cremation fee for West Lothian Crematorium, also operated by the Westerleigh Group, is £800 or £625 if the service is held early in the day.
I have no vested interest in the Westerleigh Group or any other private company that operates crematoria. Nor do I have any complaint at all about the staff at Falkirk Crematorium or the crematorium itself following its much-needed and longoverdue refurbishment.
However, during almost 30 years as a parish minister I have found some of the best-run crematoria to be the ones that are privately operated, with buildings that are well thought out and maintained and staff that are deeply conscious of providing a sympathetic and dignified service to bereaved families – a genuine service to the public and one that is rather less costly than Falkirk Crematorium is for residents of the Stirling area.
The Stirling area has long needed a crematorium and is one of the few major centres of population in Scotland without one.
The building of crematoria tends to be controversial, even if few can deny the need for them, especially as burial costs are prohibitively high for many families. Among the objections to the Bannockburn site are that it is too close to a community, surrounded by farmland and too near a busy road. Yet in many other places throughout the country crematoria are situated in areas of housing or surrounded by farmland or busy roads.
Open and reasoned debate on this important issue is necessary but it is unhelpful to base that debate on the simple dismissal of funeral directors' submissions as absurd or all private groups that develop and operate crematoria as commercial opportunists.
Were it not for the provision made by the latter, I suspect that the long and often painful wait for funeral services throughout this country would be even greater.
Colin Renwick, The Cathedral Manse, Dunblane