A Kent borough is set to run out of publicly owned cemetery space over the next decade, official papers say.

Documents produced by Swale Borough Council (SBC) state "there are currently only 10 years of burial capacity" at its sites across Faversham, Sittingbourne, Sheerness and Sheppey.

And officials speaking at an environment committee meeting last week revealed there is only one authority-owned cemetery with space left.

“We don’t have any left in Sittingbourne or Sheppey," an officer told councillors.

"Currently all new burial plots are provided at Iwade."

Local authorities are not required by law to operate cemeteries or provide burial grounds, but SBC does at Sittingbourne, Sheppey, Murston, Faversham and Iwade.

The revelation prompted Boughton and Courtenay councillor Tim Valentine to urge officials to "consider a natural burial ground".

These kinds of ceremonies do not involve the placing of a gravestone or embalming of a body.

Instead biodegradable coffins are used, and the burials tend to take place in a meadow rather than a tended cemetery.

Advocates argue they are more environmentally friendly than conventional burials, as the body is allowed to decompose naturally, and often a tree is planted in place of a gravestone.

Cllr Valentine (Green) told members: "Then you can have a burial ground that would become a woodland and contribute to our climate emergency agenda in the long term.

“I fully accept the point that may not be a role for the council, but if we’re talking about providing extra burials, let’s consider natural burials too.

"I think there's demand for it in the borough."

There are already natural burial grounds in Swale - one at Deerton Street, near Sittingbourne, which is sold out, and another at Riverview, between Newington and Lower Halstow.

Speaking after the meeting, Cllr Valentine added: “It’s a burial ground, but instead of plant memorials and headstones, they plant trees.

"Eventually it would turn into a woodland, and so if you want you can go and visit where your loved ones are and wander around a pleasant woodland rather than a cemetery as we think of them.

“We want to plant more woodland for the climate emergency."

Rosie Inman-Cook, manager at the Association of Natural Burial Grounds, was involved in setting up the Deerton Street site in 2007 - which was the first of its kind in Kent.

She thinks natural burials should be looked at as a mainstream alternative, as “councils always plead they’re running out of space”.

Ms Inman-Cook argues that by having conventional cremations, “your final act on the planet is vandalism".

“Not only does cremation release pollution, but it releases the carbon from your body and your coffin exactly where it’s not needed," she said.

“The funeral industry loves cremations, and I would hazard a guess councils do as well, because they don’t take space."

"We currently have enough burial space for at least 10 years, which gives us time to plan for the longer term..."

While she says conventional burials are more environmentally friendly than cremations, she stresses a “natural burial is rewilding in effect” as the land can be used "many times over".

A spokesman for the borough council says the authority will soon start planning for future space provision.

“We currently have enough burial space for at least 10 years, which gives us time to plan for the longer term," he said.

“We are now in the early stages of work to develop a strategy that will set out how we approach the longer-term provision of burial plots.

"This means we can make any necessary arrangements in a timely way."