A report going before Nottingham City Council’s Commissioning and Procurement Executive Committee on Monday 14 October will ask councillors to decide whether to continue offering cremation services at Wilford Hill Crematorium by replacing its ageing equipment — or to end the service altogether when new national regulations come into force in 2027.
Bereavement Services currently operate gas-fired cremators at the Loughborough Road site, carrying out around 1,200 cremations each year for residents across Nottinghamshire.
The existing units are now 28 years old, well beyond their expected 20-year lifespan, and are classed as obsolete. Council officers warn that the cremators are at risk of failure, with replacement parts no longer manufactured, and that from January 2027 they will be non-compliant with new environmental legislation.
The committee will consider whether to replace the cremators, decommission the old equipment, and invest in new FTIII cremators and cooling systems — or to cease providing a cremation service once the current equipment can no longer legally or safely operate.
If councillors back the replacement plan, a total budget of £1.36 million would be allocated to the project, funded through £918,765 in reserves and £444,735 from capital, with an additional £150,000 contingency for slippage or unforeseen costs. The new cremators would be installed in phases to allow services to continue without interruption.
Wilford Hill is one of Nottingham’s key cremation sites and forms part of the city’s wider Bereavement Services, which also manages public health funerals and cemeteries. Although the council has no statutory duty to operate a crematorium, it must provide funerals for those who die without family or means, and cremation is generally the most cost-effective option.
In 2024/25 the cremation service generated £1.07 million in income against operating costs of £597,000, contributing £473,000 towards running Nottingham’s bereavement services. Officers warn that if the service were to close, the council would face a £760,000 annual budget pressure due to lost income and the cost of redirecting statutory funerals to other facilities.
The report outlines how demand for affordable funerals has risen sharply in Nottingham in recent years. The council’s partnership with Co-op Funeralcare — known as The Nottingham Funeral — has provided a low-cost alternative since 2010, rising from 160 services in its first year to 432 in 2023. Meanwhile, the number of public health funerals has more than doubled over two decades, from 62 in 2002–03 to 145 in 2023–24.
Officers say replacing the cremators would secure the service’s future and ensure compliance with new emissions standards, while also improving energy efficiency and reducing gas consumption and carbon emissions by up to 30 per cent.
Alternative options explored include closing the crematorium, entering a partnership with Bramcote Crematorium, or switching to electric cremators. Each was ruled out during early analysis due to cost, infrastructure, or loss of local control. Electric cremators alone were estimated to cost £5.7 million and would require significant building work and a new substation.
If approved, the new cremators are expected to be fully installed by 2026, ahead of the regulatory deadline. A reserve fund would also be established to cover their eventual replacement at the end of their 25-year lifespan, making the service financially self-sustaining in future years.
