Issue - meetings

Report of the Director for Development and Economic Growth

The Rushcliffe Oaks Manager delivered a presentation which provided the Group with an update about Rushcliffe Oaks Crematorium.

The Rushcliffe Oaks Manager explained that the Crematorium had held 506 cremations in its first year, of which 32 were direct cremations without a service. She presented the Group with financial information which set out the monthly income generated compared to target income, by month, and noted that income had increased over the year and demonstrated business growth. She explained that the initial business case projections for income had been overly optimistic for a newly opened business and as such had subsequently been reviewed.

The Rushcliffe Oaks Manager said that total income for the year amounted to £485k which meant that a £61k surplus had been achieved. In comparing the number of services held over the year, she noted that 22 had taken place in April 2023 and 52 in April 2024, with projected income for 2024 being £710k, or £683k without memorialisation income which was projected to be £27k.

In relation to memorialisation, the Rushcliffe Oaks Manager said that sales had initially been slow but were increasing and it was hoped that opening up the bottom third of the site which would include a wildflower meadow would also increase sales. She noted that circa 4% of the population chose to have a memorialisation at the crematorium where a service took place.

The Rushcliffe Oaks Manager explained that the Team had sought feedback from local funeral directors which had been extremely positive, saying that the service provided was professional and welcoming. She said that the Team aimed to accommodate all types of service requests, whilst being mindful of safety concerns, and welcomed all faiths and all types of funerals and had generous service times which meant that services did not impact on each other. She added that they also had a comfort dog, possibly being the only crematorium which had one, which had proved popular, particularly in providing a distraction for children. She said that the Crematorium was also operationally carbon neutral.

In relation to competition and communications and marketing, the Rushcliffe Oaks Manager said that the Team had visited funeral directors in the area to better understand the market and where people were coming from and had looked at how best to share news. She said that the Team were including adverts in hospital bereavement brochures and sent quarterly newsletters to funeral directors. The Team had held two Open Days which had been very well attended and posted sensitive updates on social media. The Crematorium had also received exposure from having a comfort dog which had generated news and radio press items and who was a finalist in the BBC Make a Difference Awards.

Referring to future focus for the Crematorium, the Rushcliffe Oaks Manager said that the Team had needed to build resilience to allow for annual leave and unforeseen circumstances and had trained additional Council staff so that they could step in to provide support when needed. She said  ...  view the full minutes text for item 3