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UNDERTAKERS have branded plans to use heat from a crematorium to warm a swimming pool as “sick”.

Bathers will be splashing around in hot water created by cremations, saving more than £14,000 a year in heating bills, if they go ahead.

The council in Redditch, Worcs – which would be the first to adopt the idea – argues it is an eco-friendly and money-saving way of warming the pool at the Abbey Stadium.

But funeral director Simon Thomas said yesterday: “I don’t know how comfortable people would feel about the swimming pool being heated due to the death of a loved one. I think it’s a bit eerie.

“Trying to save money due to the death of someone’s family member or friend is a bit sick.

“It will cause uproar and may even put people off using the facilities. It just doesn’t feel right.”

The scheme would harness the left-over heat when the gas within the cremators is cooled down from about 800 degrees to 150 degrees.

Council leader Carole Gandy said she understood that some people would be uncomfortable with the idea but urged them to consider it properly. “I’d much rather use the energy than just see it going out of the chimney and heating the sky,” she said.

“It will make no difference to the people who are using the crematorium for services. I recognise that some people might not like it, but if they don’t, they don’t have to use our crematorium.”

Gordon Hull, from the Federation of Burial and Cremation Authorities, said he was aware of numerous councils across the country which had looked at reclaiming waste heat from the cremators.

He said: “From an environmental view it makes sense. You don’t need to use a separate boiler because of the amount of waste heat which is created from the process.”