A waiting room is to be built at York Crematorium to help it cope with large funeral parties.

City of York Council- which runs the facility at Bishopthorpe- has granted approval for the facility, which has the support of funeral directors.

The current waiting room is only 24m2 and can only take 20 people, and is widely seen as ‘inadequate.’

The new waiting room will be seven times bigger at 168.5m2 and will potentially allow for gatherings of up to 140.

City of York Council announced in 2019 it had set aside £250,000 to build the waiting room.

After its decision this week, the council told the Press it cannot yet give a start date for the project, but it would be in a much better position to say so in a few weeks.

A report by council planners said the new waiting room would be located within the tree landscaped grounds of the Crematorium, between its main public entrance and the car park.

Planning staff noted the application site is in the Green Belt, which means ‘very special circumstances’ are needed for projects to gain approval.

These circumstances, continued the report, centred on the existing waiting room being too small to accommodate those attending larger funerals.

It said: “The proposed waiting space will give that flexibility to help provide different faiths, no faith groups and different cultures of which have different needs, that require different circumstances to provide the space required.”

“Moreover, the new building would mitigate situations where mourners are waiting or queueing outside whilst those attending previous services, or the next services, are departing and arriving by additional separate private space for families and mourners.”

The report said former government guidance that venues limit accommodation to 80 mourners “no longer meets the needs of England diverse communities.”

It continued: “Industry guidance suggest chapels should be designed to accommodate 100 mourners and is therefore seen as more up-to-date.”

Therefore, a larger waiting room would now amount to a ‘Very Special Circumstance.’

The low-rise building would be set within large grounds set around the cemetery gardens and was well away from any neighbours, so their amenity did not need to be considered. The proposal also saw no objections.

Recommending approval, the council planning staff noted no harm would result from the scheme and it was considered a ‘very special circumstance.’

They concluded: “The development is considered acceptable and would preserve the character and appearance of the conservation area.”

York funeral director Hayley Owen said the new waiting room will be ‘a good thing’ and will help the privacy of the services.

She said: “Having a separate building will ensure services are not disrupted by people coming to the next service. It will be a much-needed improvement to the service the crematorium offers.”