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On Thursday 22 May 2025, East Cambridgeshire district councillors agreed to spend £13 million of public money on a crematorium at the former outdoor centre at Mepal. 14 councillors voted For, 14 Against, and the decision was taken on the casting vote of the Chair of the Council.

The £13 million will come from contributions provided by developers as part of their planning permissions in East Cambridgeshire.

This is a grotesque waste of money which was meant to improve local amenities. So much more could be done with £13M: better children's play areas, health facilities, cycling and walking facilities, education.

The arguments that we need this white elephant no longer stack up.

• We were told it was wrong that we didn’t have a crematorium in our district. But people don't care about local government boundaries when they plan their loved ones' funerals. And in any case 'our district' won't be our district for much longer, as Government is now reorganising local councils.
• We were told this project would turn ring-fenced developer money into profits to be used to subsidise council tax freezes. But council tax will need to be equalised with other districts in our new, larger council area (whatever it will be) after local government reorganisation.

There are crematoria at Huntingdon, Cambridge, Bury St Edmunds—closer and more convenient for many residents. Dignity’s crematorium in March is just twelve minutes away from the site of this white elephant proposal. It is not the role of councils to use public money to build commercial businesses to take on established private sector providers in an all-out price war.

Although the vote has now been taken, the battle is not yet over. Please sign this petition to show your district councillors how you feel about this monstrous vanity project.

Say no to the unwanted, wasteful £13 million white elephant crematorium at Mepal!