A Warwick funeral home is hoping to provide a cremation service for people who do not wish to be buried after they die.

Amis Memorial Chapel has submitted a planning application to build a cremation furnace, chimney and pit at its Khyber Pass facility, in Warwick.

The submission, which is now before the Development Applications Board, calls for a “proposed enclosure of carport, and renovations to create area for a cremation retort with chimney and pit”.

If permission is granted, the funeral home will be the first on the Island to provide a cremation service. Currently, bodies have to be sent overseas for cremation.

Yesterday chapel director Leon Amis said he had seen an increased demand for a cremation service on the Island.

And he insisted that the design for the facility is environmentally friendly, and will not create any smoke or smell.

“There has been an increasing need in the last year. I have seen demand double over the years previously,” Mr Amis said.

“What we have to do at the moment is send these people away to New Jersey. That has become more and more costly, so more people are becoming interested in being cremated.

“The other factor is the cost of a burial these days. The cost of church graves has gone up if you don’t already have a family plot.”

Mr Amis said that his company will not become a crematorium, as it will continue to provide a full range of funeral services.

The development includes plans for a brick-lined retort — or furnace — measuring 12ft 6’ long, 6ft 6’ wide, 7ft high, and a chimney which will rise about three feet above the roof line.

“There will be no smoke or fumes or anything like that,” Mr Amis said. “Instead, there will just be a haze, like a heat haze that shimmers on the surface of the road when it gets hot.”