Crematorium and Cemetery Overview and Scrutiny Task and Finish Group October 2013

Councillors Palmer, Elliott, Mayhew and Rook V3

Background The Overview and Scrutiny Committee formed a task and finish group of Councillors Palmer, Elliott, Mayhew and Rook to provide the executive with a policy steer on how to improve the customer service offered at the crematorium and cemetery and to support the development of a new business plan. After consideration, the task and finish group chose to review three areas, 1) the effective utilisation of existing assets, 2) memorial products and 3) marketing the service.

The work of the group was informed by the following sources of information:  Desktop research  Site visit (s)  Face-to-face conversation with funeral directors  A survey of ‘applicants’ for services at the site  A visit to Colchester Cemetery and Crematorium  ‘Mystery shopping’ reports from two competitor sites (Maidstone and Crawley)  Ongoing engagement with the registrar and Portfolio Holder (Councillor Jane March)

The service operates from one geographic site and comprises: the Crematorium, Cemetery Chapel and Crematorium Office.

The Crematorium The crematorium was opened in 1958 and sits in 12 acres of garden. The nearest alternative crematoria can be found at Hastings, Eastbourne, Maidstone, Ashford and Crawley. The number of cremations over the last three years was 2060, 1965, 2160. Cremation accounts for 74% of registered deaths in the UK and there are 265 crematoria. The ‘market share’ based on a four year average, is shown below.

Crematorium Market share Surrey and Sussex (Crawley) 26% Eastbourne 22% Kent and Sussex (Tunbridge Wells) 18% Vinters Park (Maidstone) 12% Charing 11% Hastings 11%

The competitive region of the crematorium is assumed to be formed from the surrounding districts of Wealden, Rother, Sevenoaks, Tonbridge and Malling, Maidstone and Ashford. Distance, road transport links and the geographical location of a Funeral Director’s depot are key factors, along with population density. A family’s choice of crematorium is primarily influenced through previous patronage. However factors such as convenience of location, chapel capacity, availability of a preferred day/time of service and quality of facilities together with operational capacity of the chosen Funeral Director can influence their decision.

There are three commemorative memorial schemes operated at the crematorium (shrub/rose plaque, kerb plaque and book of remembrance).

The Cemetery Tunbridge Wells Cemetery was opened in 1877 and is set in 24 acres. It carries out around 110 burials per year, achieving a gross income of £75,000 per year. Two thirds of the site is consecrated. There are two cemetery chapels, of which one is operational and the other disused, sharing a common central archway.

Operating context The annual number of registered deaths has decreased significantly between 1980 -2010 to an annual static death rate of 3% However life expectancy continues to increase in the population leading to the ‘ageing of mortality’ with demographic forecasts indicating significant increases in the number of people living over 80 years of age. The anticipated result of both these factors will be a gradual increase in the number of potential mourners attending a funeral. The five crematoria in the area show that it is increasingly important to raise the quality of the service offering to the bereaved and key stakeholders.

The Crematorium – short term The crematorium was built in 1958. It is a single chapel crematorium, seating around 90 mourners. Sometimes there are many more mourners than the chapel can hold. Those mourners congregate in the foyer to watch the service. Following a Cabinet decision in 2012, two new cremators will be installed in the summer of 2013. Most crematoriums are single chapel; however Cambridge (193 & 60) and Medway (115 & 115) both have a two chapel facility. Neither Cambridge nor Medway offer simultaneous services at their two chapels. The Group found that there is a clear distinction to be draw between service capacity and cremation capacity, since each cremation requires a service. Tunbridge Wells currently offers fourteen 30 minute service slots per day. If all of those slots were taken, it could offer around 3,500 cremations per year. In 2012, there were 2,160 cremations. Cremation capacity for two cremators is around 3000 per year. Cremators have a fifteen year service life and should be replaced after 2028.The group met with Funeral Directors and heard their suggestions to improve how the current service operates. Many of these improvements were low cost and ‘quick win’. Their primary need was for a range of service slot timings to be made available (longer and shorter) and for some service slots to be offered on weekends.

option appraisal conclusion Deliver ‘quick wins’ suggested by Chapel operation needs to be enforced for Deliver ‘quick wins’ suggested by Funeral Directors, including: the benefit of mourners. The ‘flow’ of funeral directors to improve the  enforcing current layout of chapel, mourners would be easier to manage. service offered at the crematorium. foyer and waiting area to improve Short term improvements would improve service to mourners  improve the catafalque curtain the service offered to mourners and other operation visitors to the site.  the toilets for use by the public should be upgraded  site signage should be improved & a daily order of service located at the car park  gardens and maintenance improvement  explore introduction of internet broadcast & a screen in waiting room Noise from outside may affect the service Improve service to mourners by currently underway. This could be minimising the noise around the mitigated by a) managing the flow of site. mourners through the waiting room, rather Minimise noise from previous and than the foyer b) consideration of post service affecting service introducing air conditioning rather than underway keeping the windows open in the chapel during summer services c) working with funeral directors to improve the service offering to mourners. Funeral Directors would be more likely to Introduce a coffee machine for Introduce coffee machine to bearers’ recommend a Crematorium with good bearers in bearers’ room. room. facilities for staff. Meets the issue raised by Funeral To offer a range of service slots, Change service timings to offer longer Directors, however, take up needs to be and test take up for a minimum 6 and shorter slots and some weekend tested. months (to improve on 62% of services. service capacity used) A satisfactory way of taking the coffin from Subject to appraisal, negotiation the cemetery chapel to the cremator and testing, the group felt Explore with funeral directors whether should be explored with funeral directors. comfortable that the Cemetery the catafalque could be utilised in There must be a committal. Should funeral chapel could be fully explored for existing cemetery chapel to enable directors be satisfied that they can offer cremation services the use of that chapel for cremation services at the Cemetery chapel, then the services amount of services could be increased in the short term.

The Crematorium – short term recommendations In the short- term, the feedback from Funeral Directors showed that more flexible service timings should be explored. There should also be a range of ‘quick win’ solutions introduced to enable the quality of the service to mourners to be improved. An exploration of the utilisation of the existing cemetery chapel for cremation services should be explored with a view to utilising that chapel as a viable alternative venue for cremation services.

The Crematorium – long term Nationally, the group noted that there was a range of two-chapel sites that seemed to offer a greater level of services and at least one chapel with a much higher seated capacity for mourners. The group felt that the long term Business Case for the Crematorium needed to take into account dual chapel sites and how they operated in order to establish whether a dual chapel site might be appropriate for Tunbridge Wells in the future. In addition to Cambridge and Medway, desktop research from a selection of crematoria showed:

Dual Chapel concept at Medway  Cheltenham 100:60 where a smaller chapel ‘holds coffins’ until services are finished at larger chapel (corridor access)  Cardiff 160:50 – regularly reaches capacity of 18 services across two chapels in winter  Croydon 130:80 – offered ‘side by side services’ chapel 1 started at 9am, Chapel 2 started at 9:15. The staggered start times enabled the flow of mourners to be managed  Etham 100:78 – Offered ‘side by side’ services  Southampton 160:70  Eastbourne 100:25

It was apparent that a dual chapel approach seemed to be a proven way of meeting the demand for larger mourner capacity services and allowed the provision of additional services at peak times. The site at Tunbridge Wells has capacity to expand, whilst for example, Maidstone seemed constrained by its existing site.

option appraisal conclusion Work with funeral directors to explore whether the cemetery chapel could be Fully explore the potential use of the more fully utilised for cremations. The Short term option but useful as a existing cemetery chapel as an disused chapel may require utilisation if test of take up and demand for a alternative chapel for cremations. the cemetery chapel becomes more second chapel. frequently used for cremations.

A long term vision is needed for the site. Preferred long-term option. The There seems to demand for larger new chapel should be orientated to Plan a flexible size, dual operation ceremonies and a dual chapel approach make the most of site. Car parking chapel that can offer larger which may offer twice as many peak-time facilities would have to be ceremonies and simultaneous services. More services would increase the considered. services to meet demand. Set aside number of cremations. Research should £3-4 million of capital funds to be undertaken with dual chapel sites and increase in line with building inflationi. with larger chapel sites to establish how they work. Ear-mark land on the existing site for The existing site appears suitable for Consider ear-marking land now. a new build crematorium. expansion. An interim solution would take around 4 years to plan and build. The cost would be Build a second chapel on existing around £500,000. Should an entirely new Do not build an interim chapel on building to offer more service crematorium be the preferred option for existing site. capacity, particularly at peak times. 2028, then both the interim and existing chapels would need to be demolished.

The Crematorium – long term recommendation The group concluded that the preferred long-term option for the crematorium would be to develop a new facility ready for operation post 2028. The new facility should be flexible and offer capacity for larger services as well as opportunities for a dual chapel approach, offering an increase in peak time services.

Memorial products The existing site offers a limited range of memorial products. There are two memorial gardens, one for burial of remains and one for scattering. There is also a children’s memorial garden. 30.8% of respondents to the survey of applicants said that they were not satisfied or did not know about the current range of memorial products. Funeral directors felt that the existing memorial gardens were dated. 76% of cremated remains left the cemetery. The group looked at a range of options to improve the offer to customers. Many crematoriums offered a columbarium scheme to allow cremated remains to be housed within bespoke structures. The group heard from the Friends of Woodbury Park cemetery about how historic memorials were developed and felt that Tunbridge Wells should consider a high quality scheme. Colchester showed the group their successful columbaria schemes, how they utilised an existing wall at their site for perpetuity memorials and explained the difficulties with potential indoor memorial schemes.

option appraisal conclusion Make no change to existing memorial Memorial scheme is limited, difficult to Change existing memorial scheme scheme. maintain and does not offer the to offer customer better choice. customer choice.

Demand for greater choice could be met. Typical memorial schemes last for Introduce an improved memorial 15 years. There is an administrative cost scheme & refresh of the existing associated with maintaining such memorial gardens. Develop one new Introduce improved memorial memorial schemes. Indicative costs memorial garden to include scheme & refresh gardens. show that there would be a net gain to columbarium for cremated remains & the Council of £135,454 from improving a memorial wall. the gardens and offering a wider range of memorial products.

Colchester had a very successful Construct a memorial wall offering memorial wall scheme. Over 1,000 a mix of in perpetuity and 15 year Introduce a memorial wall. bricks had been sold at £270 per brick. memorials. The wall should utilise

Demand for greater choice could be local materials, especially met. Sandstone.

Explore use of existing disused Indoor memorial schemes are less Not to explore using the disused cemetery chapel as an indoor popular that outdoor ones. Colchester cemetery chapel as an indoor memorial scheme. had rejected re-use of a disused chapel memorial scheme. as a memorial chapel.

A high quality memorial policy would Develop a high quality memorial enable consistency across the memorial policy. The quality of the memorial Introduce high-quality memorial offer. policy should be developed in policy. consultation with the Portfolio Holder.

Memorial products – recommendation The group found that customers wanted a wider range of memorial products. This could be met initially by an improvement to the existing gardens and the inclusion of columbaria. The group also favoured the introduction of a memorial wall and a new memorial garden. There is an earmarked capital reserve of £100,000 which could be utilised.

Disused cemetery chapel There are two cemetery chapels. One is operational and in use for funeral services. The other chapel has been disused for many years. A false ceiling had been installed, but many original features are still retained. A capital outlay will be required to return the building to operational use. The group visited one of the few sites in the South East with a cafeteria at their crematorium. Colchester Crematorium had utilised one of their two disused chapels after considering a range of options. They trialled using the site firstly as a florist franchise. For the last two years, their site has been utilised as a cafe. The group heard that Colchester did not make a return on the site and that there was insufficient custom during the winter months for the cafe to be profitable. As such, a seasonal rent agreement was required. The rent charge to the tenants was £3,480 per annum but this was offset by maintenance & the payment of water charges. It relied heavily on the enthusiasm of its leaseholders to enable the site to function. The facility was also occasionally used as a wake facility by the leaseholders of the site. Funeral Directors said that Tunbridge Wells offered a wide range of wake facilities already, including the Spread Eagle, and Spa Hotel. The group felt that if the Council wanted to explore the provision of a wake facility, then it could use its existing town centre facilities. option appraisal conclusion Competition with other well Not to utilise the chapel as a wake established providers in the town. room. If the Council is minded to Colchester had only completed 24 explore the provision of a facility for Develop a wake room facility. wakes in one year. Suggestion was wakes then it should look at its not well received by funeral directors. existing facilities, for example the Competition with established Assembly Hall. providers in the town. Visitor requirement for refreshment not tested. Tea room at Colchester Develop a tea room facility. Not to develop as a tea room facility. underutilised during winter months. Reliance on enthusiasm of tenants. Did not work at Colchester. There Not a suitable use for the disused may be an opportunity to offer cut chapel. The on site provision of Develop as a florist franchise. flowers on site, but this would need to flowers for sale could be explored be tested and transaction costs elsewhere on the site. considered. Unlikely to be satisfactory to Utilise as a cremating facility to customers and public enable the use of partner chapel for Not to utilise as a cremation facility Prohibitive cost of conversion & cremations. purchase of cremator Cost may be prohibitive, and the Redevelop existing cemetery chapels redevelopment would be time Evidence insufficient to support as a single larger chapel for use both consuming. redevelopment of cemetery chapels for funerals and cremations. Use as a funeral chapel would be lost as a single chapel. for the period of redevelopment. Await outcome of testing of use of Await outcome of testing of use of May require utilisation of disused currently operational cemetery chapel currently operational cemetery chapel. for cremation services. chapel. Genealogy and local history research The Council is unlikely to make a are popular cultural activities. commercial return from the facility. Subject to conclusions drawn from Memorial schemes could be The message from the Cultural exploring the utilisation of operational displayed. There would be a capital Strategy is to “Protect and develop chapel for cremations, explore short outlay to make the chapel useable. the Borough’s existing cultural terms use of disused chapel in line However, any change needs to be strengths by being passionate and with the Cultural Strategy. well managed and an exit strategy responsible stewards of our built and should be put in place. natural environment”.

Disused cemetery chapel – recommendation The Council would be unlikely to make a commercial return from the re-use of the chapel. The Council should firstly explore the use of the cemetery chapel complex for cremation services and subsequently, if necessary, the Bereavement Services Business Plan could include the exploration utilising the space in line with the Cultural Strategy by for example, appealing to those visiting the cemetery, as a potential ‘showroom’ for memorial products and to explore the popularity of genealogical research.

Meeting the needs of visitors and mourners – evidence gathering The group received the results of a survey from the applicants for services at the Crematorium. Around 500 - 600 people attend ceremonies at the site per week day. Most mourners arrive by car. There is limited provision at the site for mourners and cemetery visitors. Many crematoria offer a simple refreshment facility (a coffee machine) for visitors and mourners to use. Toilet facilities are provided at all sites, including Tunbridge Wells. The London Crematorium successfully offers a full tea-room facility for the refreshment of site visitors. Additionally, Colchester offered a small selection of cut flowers, coupled with a florist service as part of their cafe offer. It was unclear how best to understand the needs of visitors to the site, and whether if refreshment facilities were offered, they would be used. Similarly, it was unclear whether if flowers were sold at the site, that they would be bought. The group felt that such unknowns could be tested over the first year of the Business Plan. A key theme running through the work of the group was the need to inform the Business Plan for Bereavement Services with good evidence. The group felt that the need to gather good evidence should be built into the Business Plan itself to help inform both the short and long term plans for the site. The evidence would then be useful to demonstrate a baseline from improvement could be measured.

option appraisal conclusion

Visitors and mourners may be Evidence of the needs of visitors and disappointed with the lack of facilities mourners is required. Make no change in favour of at the site. It is not known whether understanding the needs of visitors customers arriving at the site would and mourners. like refreshments. It is unclear whether customers would purchase cut flowers at the site if they were offered.

It is necessary to understand the Gather evidence of how to improve needs of visitors and mourners before Test what visitors and mourners the facilities for the benefit of site any long term plans are developed expect from their visit to the site. visitors. This may have a small revenue impact, depending on staff resources.

It is estimated that no more than two services per week exceed the seated mourner capacity. However, over 1 That an accurate figure for the Establish how many services per year year, over 100 services may exceed number of services exceeding exceed the current seated mourner capacity, the group felt that this was a mourner capacity and by how much capacity. substantial number that needed to be should be established and recorded properly taken account of in future for 12 months. Business Planning.

Meeting the needs of visitors and mourners – evidence gathering - recommendation The group felt that more evidence was needed to understand the needs of visitors and mourners to the site. It was agreed that testing of demand would be useful in planning for a new Crematorium post 2028 and should be specifically included in the Bereavement Services Business Plan.

Marketing the service & future utilisation of additional existing assets The group did not hold a specific session on marketing of the service but there were some clear opportunities forthcoming from the range of work the group had undertaken. Additionally, the group felt that there was some scope to explore the use of the remaining assets on the site once this first set of recommendations had been considered. The remaining assets which will need consideration include, the existing ‘depot’ part of the site, the boundary wall, existing and future car parking provision, and the potential for other types of burial, including woodland burial.

option appraisal conclusion Introduce quarterly meetings with Requested by funeral directors and Introduce quarterly meetings with Funeral Directors. a good way to develop an funeral directors. understanding of their requirements and those of bereaved families. Raise awareness of the facilities It is unclear how the service is Introduce a marketing section within and services available. advertised, but the web presence the Bereavement Services Business could be improved & electronic Plan. booking of services could be explored. Local magazine could also be utilised.

The capital required to bring the site Explore potential use of existing back into use may outweigh any crematorium depot site once options Explore use of existing ‘crematorium potential future use. The future use of for the rest of the site have been depot’ site. the depot site depends on options considered considered for the rest of the site.

Initially considered as a memorial wall Not to utilise as a memorial wall, but Boundary wall site, but location is unsuitable. It to explore potential further uses with requires maintaining however. regard to maintenance Demand for the existing car park is Ensure scope for any future high. A future development would development of the site includes Car Parking require additional car-parking to allow provision for car parking. for larger attendance.

There may be opportunities to explore Explore potential of Woodland Burial. this form of burial, current locations show that there may be a gap in provision.

Woodland Burial

ii

Marketing the service & future utilisation of additional existing assets – recommendation The group recommends a long-term vision for the site. Part of that vision may require the utilisation of site assets not fully considered here. The Bereavement Services Business Plan for the next five years should enable further exploration of the options and allow for the development of a clear plan post 2028

i Cost estimate based on 2013 cost of new build crematoria at Rugby, Wellingborough and Havant. ii RUMBLE, HANNAH,JANE (2010) _Giving something back_: A case study of woodland burial and human experience at Barton Glebe., Durham theses, Durham University. Available at Durham E-Theses Online: http://etheses.dur.ac.uk/679/

Appendix C: site map