Preston’s crematorium is to get fibre optic to improve their IT connection and to facilitate webcasting.

The upgrade is due to poor IT connection stopping the use of livestreaming of funerals during the pandemic.

The application states: “The crematorium has been suffering with poor connectivity for a number of years, with many outages, which also include slow download/upload speeds.”

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Due to current restrictions of 30 people per funeral many crematoriums webcast the funeral so other family members and close friends can watch.

The total cost of the upgrade is estimated to cost £62,461.

Costs have been broken down into specific costs:

• Cost of installation and ground works – £54,135
• Cabinet installation and network points – £2,648
• Contingencies/undefined works/day works – £5,678
• Total – £62,461

The application – discussed at a council cabinet meeting on Wednesday (9 December) – states that the council has available funds to finance the costs of the scheme.

It also says that the one-off revenue costs of introducing webcasting are approximately £3,500 to £4,000 and the future ongoing costs of webcasting can be met through charging for the service.

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Despite webcasting funerals just becoming available during the coronavirus pandemic, the application suggests that it may continue in the future.

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