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Cannock Chase cemetery plan: Councillors urged to rethink new scheme

Senior Cannock Chase councillors have been urged to think again over plans for a new cemetery as they agreed to look for private sector investment.

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Opponents to the move said they were worried asking a private provider to supply and run it with the council would 'create yet another outsourced service outside direct control and benefit of the residents of Cannock Chase'.

The council decided in August to look for new investment after they ran £300,000 over budget to deliver a new cemetery for the south of the district.

This decision has now been called in by opponents of the scheme, including Cannock Chase Green Party councillor for Hednesford South Paul Woodhead.

He said: "There are several aspects of this decision and the secrecy which surrounds it which make me very uncomfortable starting with why such a decision is being made behind closed doors and not in the transparent view of the public.

"Privatising such a sensitive service needs to be discussed in public and I have been in deep discussions with council officers to bring all details used to make this decision in to the public domain.

"Decisions to move even more of our local public services into private hands need to be scrutinised and ensure any decision is in the best interests of the residents of Cannock Chase not just for today but for the generations to come. Questions such as why we are potentially starving ourselves of future income streams which are needed to support high quality services and the decision to purchase the land without the full business case to support the investment need answers."

Cannock Chase Council, led by Labour leader George Adamson, wants to build a cemetery on the site of the former Bleak House colliery.

It had set aside £1.5 million for the plans and has bought the land and obtained planning permission.

But after site testing, investigation work and technical appraisals, including a review of the costs associated with the development and operation of a new cemetery site, it had £983,780 left in the budget with an estimated capital cost of £1,285,340.

This meant council bosses had to find a way of sourcing the extra £300,000, opting to find a private sector partner to supply the rest of the money needed in return for running the site as a private burial businesses.

Responding to Councillor Woodhead's comments, a spokesman for the council said: "Cannock Chase District Council can confirm that there is a call-in meeting of the health scrunity community on October 3 at 4pm to consider this matter further."

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