A New Taipei City Council assessment report on building new funeral facilities has named four districts as candidate sites — bad news for residents and councillors there, and good news for those living near the current site in Banqiao.

• The Banqiao funeral parlour opened in 1985 and the buildings are ageing; plans to rebuild on site or move elsewhere have never been settled.
• The council-commissioned report lists four candidate sites in Wugu, Zhonghe, Sanxia and Shulin, mostly on existing cemetery land.
• Councillors from Sanxia and Shulin have condemned the plan as unfair, saying the Tucheng-Shulin-Sanxia-Yingge area already handles cremations for the whole of New Taipei.
• Banqiao was not included among the sites assessed, prompting suspicions that the report was speaking up for Banqiao — at a cost of NT$150,000 in public funds.
• The Civil Affairs Bureau says the city government's policy remains one of dispersed facilities and distributed traffic, and that the urban planning change for the Banqiao funeral parlour is still in progress.

Outlook: The report is not binding on the city government; whether anything is built, and where, will be for the next mayor to decide.