COUNCIL chiefs will spend £20,000 to investigate building the first new cemeteries in Oxford for more than 75 years.

The city council approved funding for the scheme because burial space is expected to run out in Oxford within 10 years.

Two of the city’s four council-owned cemeteries, Headington and Rose Hill, are full and have been shut to new coffin burials since 2003.

There are currently 2,081 spaces left at the two remaining cemeteries in Wolvercote and Botley. However, Wolvercote is expected to be full by 2013 and Botley by 2018.

The council considered re-using graves more than 100 years old, but the proposal was abandoned after the Government ruled out plans by other local authorities to pilot the scheme.

A specialist consultant will now be hired to conduct environmental surveys for two or three potential cemeteries in the city.

Although there is no statutory obligation on local authorities to provide burial space, council leader Bob Price insisted it was the right thing to do.

At an executive board meeting at the town hall on Wednesday, he said: “We can’t just stand back and see our cemeteries filling up. Most people expect a cemetery that is accessible and affordable.”

Burial space was last increased in 1932 when Headington Cemetery was extended.