A FAMILY which owns a Marston farm wrongly listed by Oxford City Council as a potential site for a new cemetery have spoken of their surprise at reading about the plans.

Jane Gannon, whose family has owned Hill View Farm since 1953, learnt about the proposals when she opened her copy of the Oxford Mail on Thursday.

Now the council has apologised to the owners, and said the real site under consideration is next door.

Mrs Gannon said: “My family has owned the farm for nearly 60 years, and when I looked at what had been said, I was appalled.

“I could not understand where it had come from.”

Mrs Gannon’s father Wally Ward, who died aged 94 last year, had farmed the land with his brother Tom since 1953.

Her cousin Dennis Ward is now the farmer, and was bemused when television crews arrived on Wednesday to film a report about the cemetery proposals.

Oxford City Council spokesman Louisa Dean apologised for the error.

She said: “The council own land next to Hill View Farm which is called Almonds Farm.

“This is the land the council is looking at for potential cemetery space.”

Five Mile Drive recreation ground and two sites in Horspath and one in are also on the council’s shortlist for a new burial ground.