Plans for new crematorium at Lee-on-the-Solent are submitted to Fareham Borough Council

Mercia Crematoria Developments have applied to Fareham Borough Council for planning permission for the new crem on land north of Brune Lane, Lee-on-the-Solent.

Due to an increasing population, death and cremation rates, Portchester Crematorium will be unable to meet increasing demand in future years.

Developers hosted a public consultation in January to hear residents’ views about the scheme.

NOW READ: City council draws up plans to move out of ‘vastly inefficient’ Civic Offices

Planning documents state there were ‘initial concerns’ about developing on a greenfield site but once it was explained that 75 per cent of the site will remain clear ‘such concerns soon dissipated’.

The facility will comprise a chapel with a 130-seat capacity, two cremators and an associated memorial garden.

Planning documents state the crematorium will provide services to Fareham and Gosport residents who ‘currently have to travel north to the top of Portsmouth Harbour where the Portchester Crematorium is, or even further afield to the crematoriums of Wessex Vale to the north west and The Oaks at Havant to the north east’.

The documents state: ‘The proposed location is within an area of open space which comprises Daedalus Common, home of the Queen Elizabeth Platinum Jubilee Park, to the west and the Lee-on-the-Solent Golf Club which envelops the site to its east and south.

‘At the core of the proposed landscaping lies a memorial garden, the design of which is minimal in terms of its formal nature and size. Informally shaped beds will contain matrix style swathes of self-sustaining perennial planting of flowers, grasses and bulbs, and envelop areas for seated contemplation.’

The plans have received five comments from the public, most of which shared concerns about traffic and road safety.

Local resident Joanne Bennett said: ‘As a daily user of the roads that will be used by mourners and staff for this crematorium, I do believe that it will cause more congestion and damage the road surfaces further.

‘The roads that could lead to the proposed are narrow, and one of the roads has the most ridiculous merge in which already causes chaos.’

The application has its decision deadline set on April 24.