A temporary mortuary set up at a Widnes ice rink to deal with the height of the pandemic cost £137,588.

Halton Council converted the Planet Ice rink at The Hive in Widnes into a “temporary body storage area” as a precaution at the beginning of April.

At the time, the council stressed that the temporary mortuary might not be needed but a spokesperson has now confirmed that it was required to assist a local funeral director.

The spokesperson said: “We can confirm that the temporary mortuary was required for a brief period, for a small number of clients.”

In total, the temporary facility cost £137,588 to set up and run – a sum which the council intends to recover from the government.

The temporary mortuary has now been dismantled and the building handed back to Planet Ice.

The need for a temporary mortuary underlines the impact of the coronavirus pandemic on Widnes and Runcorn, which have so far suffered 126 deaths from COVID-19.

As well as placing additional demands on the borough’s funeral homes, the death toll has meant the borough has already seen almost the same number of cremations it would expect in a full calendar year.

According to a council report, Halton’s cremators have been “worked to their limits” and will require “major servicing”, with a temporary portable cremator being installed in mid-June to help relieve some of the pressure.

However, the situation has now improved with the borough reporting no coronavirus deaths in the last week of June or the first week of July, according to the latest figures from the Office for National Statistics.