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Protests
over bodies at bottom of garden
Plan to turn storage shack
into mortuary sparks controversy
A STORAGE shack backing onto gardens in Tufnell Park
is set to be turned into a mortuary with a refrigeration unit
big enough to hold eight bodies.
Planning officials have recommended that the Town Hall gives
permission for funeral directors Green Endings to convert the
shed.
The company, which operates from nearby Fortess Road and is
known for organising environmentally friendly burials, now only
needs final approval from a panel of elected councillors for
the change of use of the building at The Yard in Oakford Road
to go ahead.
A decision on the conversion is due to be made at a planning
meeting tonight (Thursday).
Objectors who live in surrounding roads are unhappy that bodies
will be stored so close to their homes and gardens. The planning
department has received more than 300 letters of objection –
one of the largest protests over a single application in recent
years. Several residents will appear at the crunch meeting tonight.
Roz Maxwell, 70, who lives in Oakford Road, said: “It has
caused great distress in the community. It is amazing that so
many people have objected, even more than for applications for
new tower blocks, but people feel strongly about this, crying
and taking tranquillisers.”
She added: “It is an inappropriate place to have a mortuary.
I used to work in a hospital and it was a rule that the mortuary
should be kept as far away from the patients as possible.”
Ms Maxwell added that she hoped the recommendations from planning
officers had been included solely to cover the council in case
of an appeal.
The mortuary will have a maximum capacity of eight bodies, most
of which will be stored there for between three days a week.
Relatives of the dead will be able to visit the building, where
bodies will be washed and prepared for burial.
Camden’s public health directorate has warned that the
mortuary process can lead to an infection risk but has told
the council it did not know enough about the plans to declare
the conversion a danger to neighbours.
Green Endings boss Roslyn Cassidy said: “Any drained fluid
is captured in specially designed jars, where it is mixed with
sufficient water to be safely emptied into the sluice unit and
flushed into the foul water drain. Thus there are no toxic substances
being discharged into the local system.”
A council planning report recommending that councillors back
the proposals said: “The unusual nature of the application
has raised a number of concerns regarding the distress caused
by residents who live in close proximity to a building which
is used to store dead bodies. Officers appreciate these concerns.
However, they are unusual and consideration has to be given
to the weight that can be attached to them as material planning
considerations.”
The report added that, subject to conditions, the building could
operate as a mortuary. |
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