POOLE Crematorium is unlikely to be back in use again for at least three or four years – but it could be more.

BCP Council remains reluctant to be tied to new cremators at the Gravel Hill site until there is more information on the technology available, although it says it is committed to re-opening cremation services at Poole ‘as soon as possible.’

Options include new electric cremators although that is likely to mean extensive rebuilding work to fit the equipment into the building.

Read more: No immediate plan for new cremators at Poole Crematorium

Councillors have called for an options report within 18 months with a plea for the council cabinet to aim to reopen the facility by 2025-26.

Cllr Mohan Iyengar said BCP Council seemed to have misread the public mood which, he said, was not related to facts and figures, but to intangible feelings tied up with grief.

He called for a firm timescale to consider the research into options and to set a date for re-opening.

Cremations have not taken place at the centre for more than two years after the one remaining cremator, thought to be at least 17 years old, became unreliable and spare parts could no longer be found.

Poole residents having to be taken to Bournemouth crematorium, or use private facilities as a result.

Read more: Petition for Poole Crematorium to get a cremator

Cllr Vikki Slade said that no matter how much portfolio holder Cllr Mark Anderson made the commitment to replace the equipment “as soon as possible”, if that went on too long there would be claims that the council was just trying to push it into the long grass and forget about it.

He told a meeting of the place resources and scrutiny committee that the need to make a decision about replacement equipment had come at a difficult time with gas cremators being ruled out because of the council’s climate change commitment and electric cremator still relatively new technology, also being much larger than existing gas cremators.

He said other technologies were also being developed, but were at a very early stage.

Read more: Poole Crematorium under fire for still not having cremators

Cllr Anderson said, ideally, he would like to wait three or four years for data on electric cremators to judge their running costs and reliability. One has been in operation in Oxfordshire for two years although the equipment is said to need six months to bed in.

The situation has led to a public petition calling on the council to solve the problem as quickly as possible and political rows over who was to blame for not taking the decision to replace the Poole equipment sooner, before it failed, dating back to the days when Poole Council was in charge.

Cllr Sandra Moore told the meeting that it was incredible that a population the size of Poole had no public cremation service. She said one resident had written to tell her the situation was “downright shameful, adding “there is more to this than balancing budget, it is also about spiritual and psychological needs. All of us want a place to say goodbye to loved ones and friends.

“To think there might not be a place to do so in our town is sad and distressing.”

The Crematorium is set to reopen for services, not including cremation, from Monday, September 26, following refurbishment work to buildings on the site.

The committee heard that ten bookings had recently been made to use the refurbished hall at the centre, knowing that cremation would have to be held elsewhere.