Mourners to have military helicopters overhead if new Shropshire crematorium is built, planning appeal warned
Mourners will have military helicopters flying 100 feet over their heads at 100mph if a new crematorium in Shropshire is built near a pilot training school, a planning appeal has heard.
Ministry of Defence representatives told the hearing the proposed facility, near Nesscliffe, was below long-established flight paths used multiple times each day by low-flying helicopters making their way from RAF Shawbury to Nesscliffe Training Area.
But crematorium developer Westerleigh Group Ltd maintained noise surveys undertaken at the site recorded no spikes in noise at times when helicopters would have been flying overhead.
A one-day hearing at Shirehall also heard arguments that another crematorium was not needed so close to Shrewsbury, where another facility is located.
Planning inspector Tom Hatfield will now decide whether to overturn the decision taken by a Shropshire Council planning committee last year and grant permission for the controversial facility.
Wing Commander Mike Jordan, from RAF Shawbury, told the one-day hearing that two or three low-flying helicopters travelled to the training area each hour of the working week, totalling up to 24 flights per day.
He said the route was the most direct path between the RAF station and the training area, meaning it made best use of flying time – providing value for money to the MOD and the least possible environmental impact – while avoiding flying over residential areas.
Wg Cdr Jordan said the construction of the proposed crematorium would impact the training school, as helicopters would be “funnelled” together to avoid flying over the site, creating an increased risk of a mid-air collision.
He said: “To be good neighbours, we would not wish to fly over the top of a crematorium.”
'Good neighbours'
Ed Aldridge, from Westerleigh, said: “Our noise reports to date have not flagged up any issue with noise at our site. We would not ask the RAF to change any of their flight paths because there is no issue of noise at the site.”
But Wg Cdr Jordan said it was a case of being “good neighbours”.
However, he said if there was an excessive number of complaints about aircraft noise affecting services at the crematorium, the MOD may order that routes are changed. This could, in turn, lead to RAF Shawbury no longer being a viable training centre.
The hearing was also told there would be two weeks a year when extensive noise from explosives training would cause further disruption to services. But Mr Aldridge said Westerleigh could work around this by scheduling annual maintenance at the facility to happen during those weeks, so there would be no services.
Concerns over the site’s proximity to the A5 and a large chicken farm were also raised, as well as the location of the proposed crematorium within the county.
Councillor Ed Potter, who represents Loton, said: “My concern is having two crematoria very close to each other.
“In north Shropshire we have a growing population of young people.
“In south Shropshire, we have very much an ageing population but putting a crematorium at Nesscliffe doesn’t best serve these populations. It is neglecting the rest of the county.”
Councillor Potter said upcoming large-scale developments at Ironbridge Power Station, Tern Hill Barracks in Market Drayton and potentially of “thousands of houses” at Tong strengthened the case that a crematorium would be better placed elsewhere in the county.
Mr Hatfield’s decision is expected to be issued in around four to six weeks.
