New special urban plan to regulate future funeral homes
The Government Commission has initially approved the special urban plan for the creation or enlargement of funeral homes, the goal being to minimise the impact these might have on the daily lives of local people. The administrative process is now under way for a plan which must determine the locations and conditions for future funeral homes, which will have to be sited near cemeteries. Ultimately the plan will have to be approved by the Full Council.
The new special urban plan establishes that new funeral homes are to be located within a 10-minute walk of cemeteries, near to the main access roads to the city, and that they must have between 2 and 6 wake rooms. They will also have to be located on land classified for use by facilities, in purpose-built premises and on plots with at least 800 square metres of space and a maximum building potential of 1,600 square metres.
The regulation also establishes an incompatibility radius, meaning that two funeral homes may not be located within 300 metres of each other.
The regulation refers exclusively to facilities used for wakes and the preparation of the deceased, activities with no environmental impact. It excludes funeral facilities already at the planning stage or already licenced and extends the suspension of licences for new funeral facilities for at least one year, until the new regulation is definitively approved.
