Gwynedd planners have put to rest an application for a funeral building in a rural Pen Llŷn village after two years of deliberation.

Gwynedd Council unanimously passed a scheme to construct a chapel of rest to expand an existing funeral director’s business at Morfa Nefyn.

The full application was made by Dewi Thomas through Haydn Williams (Haydn E Williams Cyf) and was a re-submission of a proposal that was previously refused.

The applicant is one of three on the coroner/police list for dealing with emergency calls in the Pen Llŷn area, a report stated.

Located adjacent to the B4417 highway 50m from the B4412 crossroads, the plans were recommended for approval by the planning committee with conditions.

It will offer family the chance to view deceased loved ones before their funeral. Plans describe how the current workshop does not have space to facilitate this, and is a service not offered nearby.

The proposed chapel of rest would be located immediately adjacent to the existing workshop building.

Planning officer Gwawr Hughes told the planning committee on Monday, 22 April it had been “unclear how the plans would operate alongside the other building”.

But the applicant’s agent has provided a statement in response to the former refusal.

The business would effectively be using both buildings, “ancillary” rather than replacing the building he said.

Information confirms there will room for a hearse, an area for a doctor to visit the deceased and cold storage.

The existing building will be used as a workshop to produce coffins and store mixed stock and coffins including wicker and cardboard.

Plans had been revised, extending access, providing three parking spaces and wider access for door opening.

Speaker Haydn Hughes said “the current building is not suitable to provide a service that is compliant with modern standards.

The new plans would provide a “necessary service” for the community but “the problem had been trying to find a suitable site for the service”.

“This site was ideal, being almost in countryside but close enough to Morfa Nefyn and Nefyn,” he said.

He added that work on the planning application had been “thorough and required patience”.

“These plans had been on the table for about two years, but the officers officers are now happy,” he said,

There were no objections to the revised plans.

The committee voted seven in favour with no abstentions or objections.