Meeting the Stated Objectives of the Council

Importantly the project will meet Council’s objectives: 
  • Providing better access to cremation and burial services for residents by providing an alternative provider to challenge the current “market share” of the dominant private sector provider for cremations in North Cambridgeshire, that is keeping charges for a standard cremation high in comparison to the public sector provider in South Cambridgeshire. Consequently a new facility at Mepal will offer fundamentally better value for money in the marketplace for residents of East Cambridgeshire
  • The provision of the crematorium, natural burial area and pet cemetery on the Mepal site run by the Council will significantly contribute to the Council’s wider regeneration and employment generation objective by incrementally creating eight jobs and ensuring a sustainable end use of an effectively ‘brown field’ site, consistent with its current planning status for ‘community use’
  • The project, through its design and inclusion of renewable energy, will deliver against the Council’s Vision 2050 to deliver net zero carbon emissions and protect a key biodiversity and environmental asset in the District. Specifically, it will be a very low carbon service to support ‘one planet living’ and support East Cambridgeshire communities and biodiversity to adapt to a changing climate
  • From year one of operation, it has been evidenced that the project could begin to make a significant contribution to funding other Council services