Couple fight plans for funeral parlour underneath their home

Cheryl Dixon and Scott Perryman have been backed by hundreds of supporters in the area. They have put petition forms in most of the community's shops.

They say coffins being wheeled past their front door for the bodies to be stored beneath their feet in a chapel of rest would be an upsetting sight for their two daughters aged three years and 26 weeks.

Their flat's entrance is also next to the existing entrance to the

ground-floor premises, meaning they could be rubbing shoulders with grieving relatives.

Ms Dixon said: "We could be coming in and out of our flat laughing and joking with our children and come up against people who have been crying.

"This seems the most inappropriate place in which to put a funeral parlour.

"It would not be so bad if there was a back entrance where the coffins could be taken in and out, but there isn't.

"All the coffins will have to go by the side of our front entrance. No-one in their home wants to be confronted by coffins every day. We appreciate death is a fact, but we don't need it under our home 24 hours a day."

Nail technician Ms Dixon, 23, and her bricklayer husband,

Scott Perryman, 25, moved into the first-floor flat on Rose Green Road three years ago.

It was their first home and they paid 125,000 for the two-bedroom property above a Thresher off-licence. This did not cause them any problems before it closed late last year.

The premises stayed empty but a notice from the Fareham-based Southern Co-operative appeared recently advertising a job in a new funeral parlour.

"We worked so hard to get this home," said Ms Dixon, "but now we feel the rug is being pulled from underneath us.

"Putting a funeral parlour here seems completely wrong. It is the

last thing anyone would want underneath them."

Steve Pearce, the chief operating officer end-of-life services at the Southern Co-operative, said he was aware of the views of Ms Dixon and Mr Perryman.

"We have spoken to the owners of the flat above our new Rose Green funeral home to address their concerns.

"At this stage, no decisions have been finalised about our operating procedures, and we will continue to maintain ongoing communication," he said.

Arun District Council said a funeral parlour is classed as 'retail', allowing the use to take place without the need for planning permission.

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