The North East Surrey Crematorium Board met to discuss the management and finances of the crematorium. The board agreed to permanently appoint Luca Marzocchini as Surveyor to the Board. They also reviewed and approved the risk register, and made a minor change to simplify the standing orders.

Here's a breakdown of the key discussion points:

Appointment of the Surveyor

The board voted to permanently appoint Luca Marzocchini to the role of Surveyor to the Board. Luca Marzocchini had been serving as the interim surveyor since 1 July 2024. The role of the surveyor includes:

• Overseeing the Management Agreement with Wandsworth Council for the day-to-day operation of the Crematorium.
• Safeguarding the Board's assets and managing its land holdings.
• Monitoring the contract for the ongoing maintenance of the cremators¹ and other plant and machinery.
• Ensuring the Board complies with the statutory requirements on operational matters, including the operation of the cremators, emissions and cremation regulations.
• Working with the Wandsworth Council Design Services team to ensure the buildings and grounds are maintained to a high standard.
• Monitoring the delivery of the Board's capital programme.
• Co-ordinating the annual review of the Board's Action Plan and monitoring the performance throughout the year.
• Responding to complaints received by the Board should the initial management response be disputed in line with the complaint's procedure.
• Complying with the Board's Standing Orders, Financial Regulations and Scheme of Delegations as approved by the Board and any other policies and procedures that are in place.
• Being committed to the promotion of equality, diversity and inclusion to create and maintain a safe, supportive and welcoming environment where all people are treated with dignity and their identity and culture and respected and to deal with any instances of inappropriate behaviour or discrimination; and,
• Carrying out any other safe and reasonable duties and responsibilities as requested by the Board that are reasonably commensurate with the appointment.

Surveyor's Report

The board approved the Surveyor's findings for the management of the crematorium for the period June 2025 - August 2025. The board also agreed to the employment of a new full-time gardener starting in April 2026, as one of the current gardeners is retiring and will be changing to a part-time working pattern from October 2025.

Projects Update

• Main Drive - Pedestrian Pathway: The project consists of the installation of a new footpath connecting the main entrance to the chapels at Morden Cemetery. Wandsworth Council will work with the legal teams to stipulate a contract on maintenance expenses. The current proposal is 20% with Wandsworth Council and 80% with NESC. NESC's issued the proposed agreement in June 2025 and are currently waiting for Wandsworth Council's solicitor to provide feedback.
• Tree of Life Fountain: The revised proposal with a budget cost of £50k was approved at the June 2025 board meeting. The construction of the fountain is expected to take place between October and November 2025.

Treasurer's Report

The Treasurer presented a report to the board, which they were asked to note. The report included updates on:

• Worldpay / Card Payment Options: Investigations are underway to seek a more cost-effective solution for taking card payments. Initial discussions with Wandsworth's Corporate Income Team have identified that there will be difficulty in adapting the NESC operational processes to fit their requirements due to the sub-contracting arrangements with Enable. A meeting is to be arranged with Enable to explore their current solution, as it is understood that they have moved to a cashless option for the majority of their business areas, and if a workable solution is not possible then a wider market procurement exercise may need to be carried out. The intention remains to report back to the Board in December 2025.
• External Auditor Appointment: The board have elected to continue to 'opt-in' and be part of the Smaller Authorities' Audit Appointment (SAAA) procurement process for the appointment of external auditors. The most recent appointment, covering the financial years 2022/23 to 2026/27, re-appointed PKF Littlejohn LLP as the Board's external auditors for the 5-year period.
• Major Works & Projects: The latest update for each of the schemes listed under the Major Works & Projects schedule is attached at Appendix A. The most notable financial change since last reported is the forecast delay with the Main Drive Pedestrian Pathway project. It is now estimated that a significant proportion of the approved expenditure will slip into next financial year which matches the expected implementation timeframes.
• Management Agreement 2025/26: Overall, the latest forecast shows a £31,200 underspend against the approved budget of £810,000.
• Interim Accounts 2025/26: Overall, due to the reduced number of cremation services carried out to date, and assuming that the trend continues for the remainder of the year, forecast income levels are likely to be significantly less than budgeted for. The current forecast is for 1,800 services in the year compared to the 1,950 originally assumed when setting the budget. Overall it is currently forecast that cremation income levels will be £120,000 under budget. It is thought that this is due to a declining national death rate rather than indicating that potential clients are favouring other crematoria.

Annual Review of Risks

The board reviewed and approved the updated risk register. The risk register identifies potential risks to the crematorium and sets out the controls in place to mitigate those risks. The board's current risk appetite is considered to fall into the Minimal Risk appetite category.

Some of the risks identified in the register include:

• Information security failure
• Fire
• Flood
• Gas explosion
• Burglary
• Collisions involving vehicles
• Fraud and cash loss (internal and external)
• Financial mismanagement
• Reduction in demand
• Failure/reduction of utility supply
• Breakdown of cremator equipment
• Failure of equipment (excluding cremators)
• Unauthorised cremations
• Microbial contamination
• Vandalism
• Civil disturbance
• Failure of management agreement
• Failure of key supplier
• Failure of funeral director(s)/breakdown of relationship

Review of Standing Orders, Scheme of Delegations and the Financial Regulations

The board reviewed the Standing Orders, Scheme of Delegations and the Financial Regulations and approved a minor change to simplify Standing Order (No. 6) in relation to setting out the Order of Business for Other Meetings. This simply removes the current specified list of items and allows the Clerk to direct the order of business at the meeting as set out on the notice of the meeting and also confirms that the Chair has the discretion to amend the order of business at the meeting if there is a need to do so.