Bourke's Broadside Over Crematorium

He warned councillors at the meeting that even though the development application had been passed, there was no guarantee the developers would start building on the site.

“I am glad to see it up and here for discussion but how long is a piece of string,” Cr Bourke said.

“I have spent five years trying to convince councillors and directors ... Bathurst needs a crematorium. We are one of the fastest growing cities in NSW yet there is no crematorium.

“Am I happy? No. I won’t be happy until it starts getting built. We talk about bringing two MacDonald’s and two KFCs and there is still no crematorium.

“What I’m trying to say is with the DA we are not saying the crematorium is going to be built. There was a DA for the shopping centre on the Dairy Farmers site – it lapsed. So the crematorium may not be built.

“My message to councillors and Norwood Park [developers], is start building the crematorium. There has got to be a million dollars in the management plan that we can put away if it falls over.

“People out there behind closed doors don’t like talking about death. But there has got to be that peace with the family and some nice surrounds as a place of rest.

“This is not just Bobby Bourke’s crematorium, the people are wanting it. This is no joke this crematorium. I’d like to have a bit of backup in the management plan ... we’ll build the bloody thing ourselves [if the developers fall through].”

Councillor Ian North asked why council were only pushing for seven, not eight, parking spots and was told by environmental planning and building services director David Shaw council would talk to the developers about extra parking numbers.

Councillor Monica Morse said having a crematorium was important in an evolving society. What we are dealing with here is a change in society, this is not just a building,” Cr Morse said.

“There is more and more need for non-Christian burials. Not many people hire the CWA Hall or BMEC for funerals. There is a large number of civil burials and civil servants in Australia ... and this is one thing I think is lacking in this diagram. Facilities for refreshments following the funeral.”

“I support the recommendation ... and I take on board what Cr Bourke is saying. I see the urgency of this,” Cr Ross Thompson said.

Councillors voted unanimously to approve the DA.