A global funeral company has flagged plans to build a crematorium just up the road from a site reserved for a government-run cemetery and crematorium for the last decade.
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It came after a Legislative Assembly inquiry last year recommended the ACT build a new graveyard in Tuggeranong as an "urgent priority", after the Southern Memorial Park project was delayed indefinitely when Treasury refused to support a crematorium as a way to pay for the cemetery and to deal with a multimillion shortfall in the future maintenance trust.
But now InvoCare - which operates funeral homes, cemeteries and crematoria around Australia, New Zealand and Singapore - wants to build a crematorium and funeral home in Symonston, on a block owned by the Whitby family on Mugga Lane, near the Domestic Animals Shelter.
While the InvoCare name will be unknown to many, the company has three national brands - White Lady Funerals, Simplicity Funerals and Value Cremations - and more than 30 other brands across Australia, including Tobin Brothers in Canberra and Queanbeyan.
The parties are being represented by Purdon Planning, who also worked on the plans for the Southern Memorial Park in 2009.
Purdon Planning general manager Richard Nash said the project was is in a very early stage and "not a done deal".
The proposal was presented to the Woden Valley Community Council on Wednesday night, and will also be put to the Inner South Canberra Community Council next week.
Mr Nash said he was confident the proposal, if successful, would be complementary to the government cemetery.
"Stage one will be looking at a crematorium, a funeral home and shared services such as a morgue, while stage two will be memorialisation gardens. It's a rather large site and will predominantly be memorial gardens.
"Basically the discussion with the community is going to inform the design that's in the offing. We're doing a few studies at the moment on the design and traffic that will essentially inform the development application," Mr Nash said.
"We're in very early stages at this point but we're hoping to get lots of feedback. We're looking at lodging this side of Christmas depending on how things shake out."
ACT City Services Minister Chris Steel said there was still a way to go on the government's plans for a new cemetery and crematorium.
"A market sounding is currently underway to seek views from organisations and private sector parties in the cemeteries and crematoria industry on different delivery options for the proposed Southern Memorial Park, and the role of the private sector in operating and managing cemeteries and crematoria in the ACT more broadly. Expressions of interest for the market sounding process closed on September 21, and this process is still ongoing," Mr Steel said.
"The ACT Government will also soon undertake community engagement as part of a review of the Cemeteries and Crematoria Act 2003. The review will help to identify regulatory changes that will ensure management of cemeteries and crematoria in the ACT is contemporary, sustainable and flexible, and meets the needs of all Canberrans."
Burial space on the south side of Canberra is tipped to run out this year with the cemetery at Woden fast filling up.
On top of this, the ACT Cemeteries Authority has an unfunded liability of more than $18 million, because of the need to maintain graves in perpetuity despite falling burial rates.
Cabinet documents released under the 10-year rule showed a state-run crematorium was proposed to help reduce that deficit and pay for a new cemetery, but the plan did not have the backing of treasury officials.
Asked whether another crematorium would undercut the demand for a government-run crematorium, Mr Steel said there was no details yet of what size or services a new private crematorium might provide.
"The ACT government is committed to ensuring there are services to meet the needs of all Canberrans. As part of the response to the recent inquiry into the management of cemeteries in the ACT, the government agreed that the development of a second crematorium in the ACT was an important priority," Mr Steel said.
Mr Steel said when the Woden cemetery was full, all burials and interments would be transferred to Gungahlin cemetery, which has at least 25 years of capacity left.
An earlier version of this article incorrectly said the Mugga Lane block was owned by the Whitby Group, a South Australian proprietary owned by Pamela Bruce. It is the Whitby family, who refer to themselves as the Whitby Group but are not registered under that name, who own the block.
