A vicar is looking to take over a nearby field to use as a graveyard because he is running out of burial space.

The Rev Mark Borley says he has about a “handful” of plots left at Hoo St Werburgh churchyard.

So he is negotiating with the parish council over agricultural land it bought 20 years ago for the sole purpose as a site for villagers to bury their loved ones.

Parish council clerk Sheree Babbington said the plot in Vicarage Lane was bought from a farming family for £10,000 with a covenant that it should be used as a cemetery.

Up to now, it has not been required but Mr Borley said the existing site in Church Road was “rapidly” filling up.

He added that the alternative was ideal because it was so near to the church.

Meanwhile, he has thanked a neighbour, a funeral director, who has paid for a massive mound of soil – which had accumulated over the years where graves have been dug – to be levelled.

Mark Allen, of family undertakers Terry Allen Funeral Service, has had the pile – which was stacked up against his fence – flattened to free up more room.

Mr Borley said: “We cannot say how many spaces, but it will create some additional much-needed space.”

Mrs Babbington said: “At last, the wheels are in motion for it to become a graveyard for the people of the village.”

Known as Butthaw Meadow, over the years wild flowers have been planted to create a natural habitat.

There may be plans to add pathways, to plant a shrub border to act as a screen and have planted flowers there to create a meadow.

She said: “When it was bought all those years ago it was because we felt it was important that it should be used by those living in the village.

Access is only from Vicarage Lane, with funeral directors and chief mourners expected to use the road for unloading and the church grounds used to accommodate visitors.