BEREAVED families will be able to hold services for loved ones throughout the summer, but face seeing them taken out of the area after "desperately needed" maintenance work was confirmed today.

Barrow Borough Council's Executive Committee confirmed plans to appoint a contractor to replace Thorncliffe Crematorium's cremators.

It will mean grieving families will be forced to send their loved ones to sites in Lancaster or Beetham Hall in Milnthorpe, with the closest 32 miles away.

Phil Huck, executive director of the council, said: "It is a very complex operation and a challenging programme.

"We want to reduce the inconvenience as much as possible and that has been a key part of the planning process that has gone on so far.

"We do recognise the sensitivity of this matter and we will do our upmost to ensure services are out of action for as short a time as possible."

The council are hoping to have the first cremator running by the end of August at the latest, with the second hoping to be operating at the end of September.

Mr Huck confirmed, however, the chapel would remain open during the work, which will be completed out-of-hours and at weekends.

He said: "During the time the work is underway the chapel will still be there for people to use for services, but the cremations will occur at facilities out of the area.

"For six or seven weeks there will be no cremations done there.

"After that, one of the cremators will be set up and they will run at full capacity until the second starts a month later."

Speaking at the meeting, at Barrow Town Hall, Cllr Michael Cassells called for more to be done to protect families from being exploited during the work.

He said: "I am just a bit concerned about the families if they have to go to other places.

"It is obviously good to still have the chapel running, but I don't know what other sites will be charging and I am worried it could mean families will be having to pay twice."

Cllr Anne Burns urged the council to move quickly but sensibly in their search.

She said: "We have got to move fairly quickly. We can't just go for the cheapest because we need to make sure we get the best service.

"I remember the last time this happened and people had to travel to Morecambe or Lancaster and it is hard.

"We have got a service here that desperately needs replacing and we need this to be right for the service it is providing to Barrow."

Plans for the work were set out in July 2017, when six companies were contacted with a view to including them on a competitive list of tenders.

As well as being tasked with completing the work, the chosen contractor will be required to monitor, maintain and service the new crematorium as part of a long-term service agreement.

Mr Huck said: "The money has been set aside for this and we are in the process of arranging contractors.

"We have gone out to tender and have had three offers returned to us.

"There is a significant discrepancy between the highest and the lowest bids and we think there has been a misunderstanding on the task required, so we have ruled them out for reasons other than just the cost.

The bids for the work include £985,000, £761,780, and £554,000, with the highest offer now ruled out.

Mr Huck said: "We still have a big discrepancy between the middle offer and the lowest, so we are suggesting a pre-contract meeting with the two of them so we can understand why that is.

"We need to make sure we haven't missed anything in the process that they've seen."

The council are hoping to begin the process in late June or mid-July, and confirmed penalties would be in place if the work is delayed.

Mr Huck said: "We are trying to minimise the disruption and that does mean we are trying to do it when usage is generally lowest.

"In order for that to happen we should be in a position to appoint a contractor later this month.

"We want to minimise the disruption and one of the key performance elements in the contract will be keeping it to a minimum and there will be penalties to reflect that."

The work will see a complete overhaul of the current system at the crematorium, on Devonshire Road.

Mr Huck said: "On average we have to remove and replace both cremators every 20 years.

"It is a complete replacement of the cremators that is needed, as well as upgrades to the flue system.

"It isn't possible to keep one open while the other is replaced because of that."