Three areas of land have been identified as a potential new cemetery within the £1.5bn Bicester eco town.

Bicester Town Council said it is likely the current cemetery behind St Edburg’s Church, in Church Street, will be closed for burials within 18 months.

The council has been searching for a new site for a town cemetery for several years and even employed consultants to help identify potential land.

Three sites have been identified at the 5,000 eco settlement in North West Bicester. One has been rejected because of the “commercial potential for development”, but two others are in the running, and are both within a 12-hectare stretch of land along the railway line.

A report to town councillors said a cemetery at the eco town could also provide green and woodland burials as well as traditional forms of burial.

It was also agreed the five-hectare cemetery would form part of the eco town’s required 40 per cent green space for the entire 345-hectare site.

Town councillor Debbie Pickford said no decision had been made over the land as it was subject to surveys and tests. She said: “It is a move in the right direction but there is a long way to go.

“We have a meeting in about three months’ time with P3Eco.”

Consortium P3Eco was given planning permission last month for the first stage of the controversial development.

Alongside housing association A2 Dominion Group, P3Eco want to build 394 homes, an energy centre, shops and offices on farmland off the B4100 near Caversfield.