OPPOSITION councillors last night forced Southampton’s environment boss to rethink his controversial decision to make the city one of the most expensive places in Britain to die.

Councillor Matt Dean was grilled about a 33 per cent rise in cremation fees, from £450 to £600, that comes into force on January 1.

Defending his ruling, the Cabinet member for environment and transport said between £3m and £6m was needed to pay for new cremators and mercury abatement facilities to reduce the amount of pollution the crematorium emits.

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He claimed that “there was not a single person”who would feel the effects of the rise as funeral costs are paid out of the deceased’s estate.

However, the overview and scrutiny management committee called for the hike to be phased-in, with an initial £85 increase to £535 in the new year.

The powerful committee recommended that the additional £65 only be considered in the spring, when the exact costs of the crematorium redevelopment are known.

The ruling Conservative Cabinet will now have to formally reconsider the £150 fee increase it approved less than two weeks ago.

It is a major boost to local funeral directors who have called the £600 fee “totally unjustifiable”.

Gary Trevitt, chairman of the National Association of Funeral Directors’ Southampton branch, warned that some families would be forced to lay their loved ones to rest in a different city – or county – where fees are up to £200 cheaper.

As revealed by the Daily Echo, some elderly residents are also queueing up to pay for their own funeral before they die to avoid burdening their relatives with the new fee.

Liberal Democrat group leader Jill Baston said she recognised the need to increase fees next year, but said the hike was “out of proportion” and that there was “huge gaps” in the financial justification for it.

Cllr Dean said he needed to increase fees as soon as possible to start accruing money to pay for the works, which must be completed by 2012.

“It requires massive investment and the level of that investment has yet to be determined. A best case scenario is that it would cost about £3m and a worst case scenario is that it would cost £6m,” he said.

“If I do not accrue this money now I am going to be putting a five or six per cent increase on council tax next year. Another option is to take it out of the capital works fund, so the choice would be between building schools or raising cremation fees.”

Cllr Dean added: “My view is that this service should not be heavily subsidised by people who are not using it and that it should stand on its own feet.”