Hastings District Council backs away from charging more for larger coffins

Hastings District Council backs away from charging extra for oversized coffins. Photo / File

Hastings District Council is backing away from a controversial idea to charge more for larger coffins.

The plan to charge oversized coffins (those over 150kg) was briefly discussed with Hastings District Council at a meeting on February 21 2019. The recommendation would have seen oversized coffins charged $200 more than a coffin under 150kg.

At that time the council decided to refer to the Hawke's Bay Crematorium Committee to review the changes to fees.

On the Crematorium Committee's agenda it states that on a Hastings council workshop on February 21 council officers "gave clear direction to officers that it did not want to charge for cremations based on the size of coffins".

The Crematorium Committee will most likely approve amended fees and charges which do not include extra pricing for oversized coffins at their meeting on Monday.

They are also looking at options not to charge for cremations for those aged under 11, due to the sensitivities around this.

Any recommendations from the committee would then be considered by the full council.