Crematorium plan for Tuam is dead and buried

HOPES that Tuam would be the home of the first ever crematorium in the west have died a death following the decision to grant planning application for a facility on the outskirts of Ballinasloe.

The €4m development at a 20-acre greenfield site at Garbally Demesne on the old N6 near the town was approved by An Bord Pleanála last week.

Construction is expected to begin later this year on what was the second such facility proposed in the county, with an application by Tuam businessman Tommy Varden to locate a crematorium in the town rejected by the planning authority last year.

That development was earmarked for Stable Lane, The Mall.

Tommy Varden said he had been considering a second application for an alternative site in Tuam, but the approval of the Ballinasloe crematorium has extinguished such plans.

Read the story in this week's paper or in our digital edition April 3, 2014