LONG-TIME local resident Betty Thompson wants to know why Bathurst still does not have the crematorium it was promised.
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In April last year a development application for a crematorium with a chapel for 80 people was approved by Bathurst Regional Council.
The development, proposed by Norwood Park, will be next to the Maranatha Lawn Cemetery.
Mrs Thompson said council should have been pushing for work on the crematorium to start.
“What is the hold up?” she asked yesterday. “We want answers.”
Mrs Thompson said she is not the only one anxiously awaiting the development. She believes nine out of ten people want to see a crematorium here sooner rather than later.
Over the years she has had to travel to Orange for the cremation of her mother and father, her husband, two brothers and two sister-in-laws.
“That’s just in the one family,” she said.
“It is very important for Bathurst to have a crematorium. It would save us being forced to travel to Orange at such an overwhelming time.
“Many people find it stressful because they have the funeral here, then travel to Orange for the cremation. It is a sorrowful time to have to travel that distance. If we choose not to travel to Orange then the service feels incomplete.
“Sometimes it stops people from being cremated because they don’t want to inconvenience their families.
“The least distressing you can make it for people at a time like that the better it is for them,” Mrs Thompson said.
Crs Bobby Bourke and Ian North and Parks and Gardens manager Peter Navin will go to Canberra on June 28 to speak with the management of Norwood Park about what is causing the delay.
“I think the whole process has been way too slow,” Cr Bourke said. “The people of Bathurst have been waiting long enough.”
The councillor has advocated for a crematorium to be built in Bathurst for many years.
He said council was told by Norwood Park that work was going to start in 2011-2012 but so far not so much as a single hole has been dug.
“The rate payers in this town want a crematorium and I think council should have taken a more active role in making sure it happens,” Cr Bourke said.
“I can’t wait to get down there and get some answers. I’m sick of it.”
