East Cambridgeshire District Council’s trading company has finally submitted a planning application to turn the much-loved Mepal Outdoor Centre into an unpopular and unwanted crematorium.

The application is being pushed through by Conservative councillors and will eventually be published on the council website. The Council’s planning department recently ruled that the application did not need an Environmental Statement.

Work began in secret on the crematorium proposals two and a half years ago, and was kept under wraps for over eighteen months. Conservative councillors deliberately held it back from the Council’s published plans so the public would not know it was happening. The ‘consultation’ that the Council published earlier this year was branded a sham by many residents, as it gave no opportunity to express any opposition to the crematorium.

The Council has spent nearly a quarter of a million pounds so far planning its crematorium. This is far in excess of the amount authorised by the Full Council in July 2020. The Council plans to spend a further £6.5 million on the building.

Developer contributions meant to improve local communities will instead be turned into what Conservative councillors hope will be a profit machine to subsidise council tax. However, the site of the proposed crematorium is just twelve minutes from the existing Fenland crematorium in March, and a new crematorium in Huntingdon will open later this year.

The eventual publication of the planning application will give local residents an opportunity to object to the application.