Malfunctioning system affects Mansfield cremation and funeral services
Mansfield Crematorium. image credit: Google
By Lauren Monaghan, Junior Local Democracy Reporter
Mansfield’s crematorium is currently running on reduced capacity after one of its cremators designed for people of a larger size began malfunctioning – but a whole new refurbishment is on the cards to fix the problem.
Mansfield and District Crematorium Joint Committee is set to meet next Monday (May 19) at Newark and Sherwood District Council.
The committee is formed of Ashfield’s, Mansfield’s, and Newark and Sherwood’s district councils, with Mansfield and District Crematorium serving these wider areas.
In a crematorium operations report to be put to the committee, current reduced service is detailed.
The service’s bariatric cremator – designed to accommodate people of larger size and weight – had a fault that required investigation.
This malfunction was brought up to the committee in its February 2025 meeting, but lay unresolved for weeks.
This has meant the crematorium has been operating on two cremators, with “intermittent” issues with one that needs investigating.
The service usually has 12 cremations a day. This has dropped to eight a day with the reduced service, which papers say “has meant a delay in being able to provide funeral directors with sufficient options for services”.
A spokesperson for the crematorium service says: “It has become clear that the facility is ageing”, with some of the service’s cremators dating from 1995 to 1998 and nearing end of life.
Their statement continued: “This is not the usual level of service we would usually provide our families; however, we have had to reduce capacity in recent weeks in order to continue to operate daily.”
The service has now confirmed the bariatric cremator has been fixed and some concluding testing will take place this week before the facility can return to its usual daily service.
Cremations have declined since the 2019/20 financial year, with 2,309 in total dropping to 1,990 for 2024/25 – a 14 per cent decrease since 2019.
However, 2024/25 saw a higher number than anticipated, with the service saying the 1,990 total was “10 per cent more throughput than forecasted”.
All three district councils have put forward capital financial contributions for a new scheme which will see new cremators and a “whole new refurbishment” of the Mansfield facility.
The service’s spokesperson said: “More detailed information will be provided later in the year as the scheme develops.”
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