Poles have been put up for a fence to go around the crematorium to be built by Trenerry Funerals’ Daniel Calabro, Vanessa Barnes and Jake Hubbard (inset). Photo: Supplied.
Griffith City Council, which is funding a new crematorium in town, has issued a stop work order on the building of a fence around a rival crematorium that is also being constructed.
The council claims the fence is “unlawful” even though it has not been built.
The local government body has approved development applications for two crematoriums to be built in town. This includes its own joint venture with Griffith Regional Funeral Services opposite Marian Catholic College, in which the council itself will spend $400,000 to purchase the cremator. It’s also given the green light for rival Trenerry Funerals’ privately funded proposal to open a service at 1-3 Battista Street in Yoogali.
But the latter development has been stalled after council compliance officer Mitchell Noble sent a letter to Trenerry owner Daniel Calabro just before Easter.
“Council officers have received a complaint about an unlawful construction and are responding with the following order to stop work,” the letter read.
The letter calls for work on the fence to stop immediately and states that failure to comply could result in a penalty of up to $1.1 million. Mr Noble says the decision can be appealed in the Land and Environment Court.
Mr Calabro said he didn’t understand why he’d been issued with the notice.
“We are fully compliant with all legislation … how do they know the fence will not be compliant? It’s not even built. All we’ve done is put in some poles.
“Is this a ploy to delay the crematorium?” he asked.
Region asked Griffith Council why it issued the stop work directive and how it knows the fence will be unlawful given the fence has not yet been built.
We also asked if council sees itself as having a conflict of interest on this matter given it is funding a rival crematorium and if so, how it has mitigated this conflict of interest.
The council refused to answer any of these questions, with a spokesperson saying it had no comment on the matter.
“We just want to get on with it and get this development built. We haven’t done anything wrong … our cremator is arriving this week,” Mr Calabro said.
The Sikh community in Griffith has long pushed for the establishment of a crematorium in town, as their religion prefers the burning of dead bodies to burials.
The absence of a local facility has meant this group has had to travel to Wagga to use this service, which is both costly and time-consuming at a difficult time for families.
After having no crematorium for so long, the town is now set to have two.
Mr Calabro says crematoriums are private businesses and should not be funded by Griffith ratepayers.
“I don’t care if there’s two crematoriums or even six crematoriums in town, but none of them should be paid for using your or my rates, by people who may never use the service. Council should stick to being a council, not delving into private business,” he said.
In December 2024, councillor Scott Groat questioned the location of the council-funded crematorium on Wakaden Street.
“It’s near a busy highway and it’s next to a school,” he said. ”That’s the feedback I’m getting from the community. I wouldn’t want a crematorium next to me; it belongs in a parkland right out of town … that’s the case for other crematorium too.”
Mr Calabro said he was surprised that planning laws would allow a cremator to be located opposite a school.
A Region investigation revealed 172-174 Wakaden Street was quietly rezoned to allow for a crematorium to be built there in 2023.
In December, Region asked Griffith Council why it rezoned this premises and whether there was any public consultation on this decision. It did not respond to our questions.
The NSW Planning Department said this change was coincidental – rezoning was undertaken to several sites as part of broader productivity reforms and not specifically to enable a particular company to install a cremator.
