Two council reports prepared for a resource consent hearing later this month have recommended Hope and Sons' proposed cremator near Andersons Bay Rd, Dunedin, go ahead, despite the strong opposition of neighbours.
The major problems opponents of the cremator appear to face is that the funeral home is on industrial land, allowing greater leeway for operators, and that opponent's concerns are considered cultural and spiritual, rather than physical.
Hope and Sons has applied for resource consent to install the cremator at its business on the corner of Andersons Bay Rd and Oxford St, near a food outlet, supermarket and homes.
If the cremator is installed, it is expected to halve the number of cremations at the city council's Andersons Bay facility.
Hope and Sons said when the plan was revealed in January its cremator was designed for sensitive areas, and new technology meant there would be no visible emissions apart from heat haze.
But residents were not happy with the idea of the facility so close to their homes.
The company has applied to the Otago Regional Council for a discharge to air consent, and to the Dunedin City Council for a consent to establish and operate the cremator.
The consent has attracted submissions from 39 people or groups, with 34 of those opposed to the plan.
The reports both note the psychological effects made clear in submissions.
The regional council's report, written by resource management director Selva Selvarajah, said if the application was decided solely on the effects on physical human health, the application would be granted.
Due to that being less than minor, "the council's staff find it difficult to recommend the application is declined solely on the grounds of the effects on cultural, spiritual and amenity values".
The city council's report, by planner Darryl Sycamore, said because the site was industrial, "the applicant could establish an industrial activity on the site which would create adverse effects far greater than those anticipated by virtue of this proposal".
Bay View Rd resident Lew Campbell, who collected a petition against the proposal, said last week residents who had received the reports were disappointed with the recommendations.
A joint hearing of the two councils has been set down for May 24.
