PLANS to build a crematorium in the local area are expected to be given the green light this week.
The new crematoriu m, which will also include a chapel of rest, has been on the cards for some time, with planning first applied for back in 2012. Now, following feasibility studies and other assessments, Council planners have recommended granting the permission to the development.
The nearest crematorium to Fermanagh is in Cavan town, is increasingly used by families not just from Fermanagh, but from as far away as Derry and the most northerly parts of Donegal.
The crematorium being planned by Fermanagh and Omagh Council has been a joint project with two other councils, Mid Ulster and Derry City and Strabane, and it had previously been agreed the councils would contribute £10,000 each to the project.
The planned crematorium will be based in Greenhill Cemetery on the Gortin Road in Omagh. The Council has recommended approving planning permission based on eight conditions, which include protecting a woodland on the proposed site.
Councillors will vote on whether to pass the planning permission at a meeting of the Council’s planning committee this Wednesday night, March 18th.
While the current Covid-19 crisis could never have been anticipated by the Council and its planners, news the crematorium has been recommended to proceed comes just a week after local funeral directors were advised that those who sadly pass away as a result of the coronavirus should be cremated.
Last week, in the wake of the rapid spread of the virus and a growing number of deaths, the Irish Association of Funeral Directors has provided guidance for its members. This included a recommendation that funerals services for those who have died as a result of Covid-19 should be postponed, and the person who has died should be cremated or buried immediately.
The association acknowledge that its recommendations made for “uncomfortable reading” but added “it was not our intention to alarm the public or be insensitive to the trauma that loved ones may face should a member of their family die from the disease.”
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