A FURTHER £800,000 will be spent on making a Somerset crematorium fit for purpose for at least the next 25 years.

South Somerset District Council is the public body responsible for Yeovil Crematorium on Bunford Lane in Yeovil, which currently averages 1,700 cremations per year.

The council has aimed for several years to upgrade the facility, which was completed in 1970, to provide more room for mourners and to enable the building to handle more services as a result.

But the project cannot be completed within a further six-figure investment to offset higher construction costs and urgent repairs undertaken before the coronavirus pandemic.

The council manages the crematorium on behalf of the Yeovil Crematorium and Cemetery Committee, and holds an 89 per cent interest in the site (the remaining 11 per cent being owned by Yeovil Without Parish Council).

The original decision to refurbish and upgrade the facility was taken back in June 2017, with the council intending to construct a new chapel, waiting room, a smaller secondary chapel and improved parking facilities, as well as replacing the existing cremators.

A total of £4million was originally allocated to this project, which was increased to £4.921m in August 2019 following the initial tenders being received.

By March 2020, one of the two replacement cremators had been installed – but the installer went into liquidation, and the new cremator installed had “mercury abatement issues”, which had to be urgently addressed to prevent environmental hazards.

Furthermore, the contract for the main construction element was not ultimately taken forward due to “operational pressures” during the first coronavirus lockdown.

Robert Orrett, the council’s commercial property land and development manager, told a meeting of the district executive committee on Thursday morning (February 17): “The operation of the crematorium facility inevitably became even more critical to the community at that point.

“We put a halt to the construction phase and we left that for around about a year while we concentrated on the daily and weekly intense management of our covid response.

“The combined impact of these changes means we’re faced with the budget being £800,000 more than expected.”

The budget increase – which would bring the total project cost to £5.721m – will be funded through external borrowing.

Councillor Peter Seib, portfolio holder for finance, legal and democratic services, dismissed concerns about the council’s amount of borrowing as “tub-thumping”, arguing the improvements would add 25 years of service life to the building.

He added: “Doing nothing isn’t really an option here. We ought to recognise that in the existing project, there has been an excellent continuing service through covid.

“I think this is worth doing. I know certain parts of the district can rely on Taunton Crematorium, but it’s just too far for the district’s largest town and most of the smaller settlements in Somerset and Dorset.”

Councillor Gerard Tucker, who chairs the council’s scrutiny committee, said he hoped the council would be more financially prudent with similar projects in the future.

He said: “The real crux of what we concluded is: was this whole episode bad luck, were we ill-advised, or was there an absence of due diligence on our part? I really do sincerely hope we’re going to learn by this.”

Council leader Val Keitch added: “The project board hadn’t met for two years. I think the sooner this board meets, the better because then things like this wouldn’t come out of the blue to locals.”

Following unanimous approval by the district executive committee, the funding proposals will come before the full council for final approval as part of its annual budget-setting meeting on February 28.