A council has lowered the price of its cremations in a bid to bring it in line with its competitors.
Bramcote Crematorium, in Coventry Lane, has reduced the price of a direct cremation (where a coffin is delivered but there is no service) to £395.
The current price of £500 was deemed too much, particularly as the nearby Wilford Hill Crematorium reduced its fee for the same service to £395.
Feedback from funeral directors revealed people had been opting to go elsewhere due to the price difference.
Broxtowe Borough Council said: "As part of the emerging marketing strategy aimed at increasing the number of customers using Bramcote Crematorium it is proposed to reduce the fee for a direct funeral to £395 in line with the crematorium’s closest competitor.
"A further proposal to increase custom as part of the emerging marketing strategy is to introduce a low cost cremation service for the first slot of the day.
"This time slot is often not booked and so it is anticipated that introducing a £600 low cost cremation service for this slot would attract additional revenue into the crematorium."
The council has also sought to introduced low-cost cremations for the very first time slot of the day.
"The first slot has only been used three times since April 2021 and so is evidently not an attractive time slot," the council added.
"It is anticipated that the introduction of a £600 low cost cremation would be attractive to families so would have a positive effect on income generation for the crematorium."
The same Broxtowe Borough Council document, from the Bramcote Bereavement Services Joint Committee, also shows essential repairs, not within the scope of the original council budget, were also needed.
One of two cremators needed new bricks and hearth within the chamber, which then led to the discovery of a defect with the extractor fan.
The costs of the repairs are in the region of £50,000 for the reline of bricks and £10,000 for the extractor repair.
The total spend for the year will therefore be roughly £110,000, resulting in an overspend of £35,000 against the original budget projection, the council document adds.
