Funerals will be moved from Jersey's crematorium to the Royal Jersey Showground in Trinity next spring.

The temporary relocation is to make sure services aren't disrupted by building work on the new acute hospital at Overdale.

The Members' Room of the RJA&HA will be used exclusively for services for four days a week to match the crematorium's current schedule.

Larger services already happen there and the government says the two venues already have a good relationship.

Although funeral services will move, interments, cremations and the use of the Garden of Remembrance will remain at Overdale.

Jersey Crematorium, St Helier

Health Minister, Tom Binet says the relocation avoids major building work disrupting ceremonies.

"Unlike the demolition phase, where work could be paused at the Overdale site during funeral services to minimise disruption, construction activities are much more difficult to stop due to the scale and complexity of the work involved.

"I would like to thank everyone who has been involved in getting us to this stage, specifically the crematorium staff, the members of the Crematorium User Group, and the RJA&HS members for their cooperation in finding a collective solution."

The government says some benefits of having the services in Trinity include:

• Up to 50 parking spaces, including accessible parking,
• Capacity for services to hold up to 100 mourners,
• Accessibility for wheelchair users and accessible for the hearse and funeral cars,
• It ensures exclusive use of the space, allowing mourners the same level of privacy that the current facility provides,
• It offers a private, off-road area for mourners; to gather privately before and after services,
• And, it is within a 15-minute drive of the current crematorium site.

Deputy Binet said:

" The team have explored just about every option possible on the island and that one came out as being the best by some considerable margin given that it is a nice, quiet country location and there is plenty of parking.

It is, from what I saw, the most appropriate by some margin."