A British town council says it has approved plans to use the heat from a crematorium to warm up the swimming pool next door.

The local authority in Redditch, a town outside Birmingham in central England, says the move will cut energy waste.

Work on a link between the town's crematorium and its new leisure centre will begin later this year following the council decision.

A senior official from Unison, Britain's second biggest trade union, has called the plan "sick, insulting and insensitive".

However, Redditch Borough Council leader Carole Gandy says correspondence showed that up to nine in 10 locals were in favour of the idea.

"Many respondents have in fact praised the council for being so innovative and for being willing to discuss the idea openly," she said.

"We have been careful to explain how the technology would work, that it is tried and trusted, and that the practice is quite common in parts of Europe and especially in Sweden."

The heating scheme will be the first of its kind in Britain.

The council says the plan will save more than $22,500 a year.

- AFP