REDDITCH Council leader Carole Gandy has reacted to the national attention regarding plans to heat a leisure centre using waste heat from the town’s crematorium.

The Advertiser reported that town hall chiefs want to use the heat generated by Redditch Crematorium to heat the new Abbey Stadium and its facilities, including a pool, which is due to open in spring 2012.

Currently the heat is just pumped into the air.

Speaking at a press briefing held earlier today Thursday, January 27, Coun Gandy said that despite some negative attention most has been in favour of the plan.

“About 90 per cent of the response we have received has been very positive,” she said.

“We’ve had emails and calls, some from Australia, Canada and Ireland, and overall I have found that people have been in favour of it.

“Once you get over the fact that it is quite a sensitive issue I think people will find it acceptable.”

Coun Gandy also stressed that the crematorium will continue to operate the way that it does currently.

The press briefing was in response from national attention over the plans, which if approved, would make the council the first in the UK to adopt it.

There are several other councils already using waste heat to warm chapels and crematoria buildings, although only a small proportion of the available waste heat is actually used, while in Sweden a similar process is used to warm people’s homes.

The plans will be discussed at a meeting next Tuesday, February 1 before a final decision is expected to be made on February 7.