FLINTSHIRE'S new crematorium will serve more than 140,000 people following its opening this month, the company behind the facility has said.

The Leader reported yesterday how Oxfordshire-based firm Memoria had confirmed the £4 million structure in Northop will be officially opened on June 25.

Jamieson Hodgson, head of planning and business development director at Memoria, said: "We are delighted to finally be in a position to open Flintshire Memorial Park and Crematorium.

"This is a much needed public service facility which is going to serve over 140,000 people across Flintshire and surrounding areas.

"We have recently recruited a newly established local team who have been fully trained and are ready to serve the local community.

"After five years of planning battle at local government, public inquiry and judicial review, the facility can finally open to the public and provide a more accessible state of the art facility to the people of Flintshire.

"We will offer one hour service times to all funerals and offer all our usual care and attention as emphasised in our mission statement."

Memoria won a legal battle with Flintshire funeral directors J E Davies and Son to provide the crematorium, and was given planning permission in 2016.

Following the announcement of the opening date, Edward Davies of J. E. Davies and Son Funeral Directors said: “J. E. Davies and Son Funeral Directors are pleased the residents of Flintshire and the surrounding areas will now have the benefit of a local crematorium.

“I am obviously still disappointed my application for a crematorium was not successful, but Memoria have provided this much needed crematorium facility in Flintshire.

“We at J. E. Davies and Son Funeral Directors have been using Memoria’s crematorium in St Asaph since it opened and the staff there are professional and courteous, and provide us and bereaved families with an excellent service. We are sure the same will be provided by the new facility and staff at Northop Crematorium.”

Responding to Mr Davies' comments, Mr Hodgson said: "We look forward to working closely with all local funeral directors and thank Mr Davies for his kind words of encouragement.

"As he points out, despite our differences, we have worked together since 2016 - when we opened our facility in neighbouring Denbighshire - to provide the best possible standards to local bereaved families. We hope to be able to do the same in Flintshire."