A new cemetery to serve the Sittingbourne area could be ready for use by the summer.

Swale council has set aside £100,000 for the development in Iwade behind All Saints C of E Church in The Street.

The new site is needed because burial space at Sittingbourne Cemetery, in Bell Road, has now virtually run out.

It will be operated by Swale council and ongoing costs are estimated at £10,000 a year. Part of the proposal also includes the transfer of a Grade II listed barn to the council for use associated with the cemetery.

Officers had negotiated with the London Crematorium Company, which runs the Garden of England Crematorium in Bobbing, to try to resolve the need for more burial space, but no agreement could be reached as the company’s management is concentrating on developing the crematorium business.

Several approaches were also made to the Home Office, now the Ministry of Justice, on the possible re-use of old graves, but extensive research on suitable graves would still need to be completed after any legislation was passed.

Other potential sites proved unsuitable mainly because they were considered unacceptable by the Environment Agency.

In the end the land behind the church was handed over to the council by Ward Homes, which is building houses close to the new cemetery site, after a section 106 agreement.

Len Mayatt, leisure manager for Swale council, said: “We are in the process of putting the contract out to tender.

“We hope that the new cemetery will have its first burial at the end of June, beginning of July.”

The cemetery will also serve Sheppey because its cemetery in Halfway has a maximum of 10 years until it reaches capacity.

The council is looking to find space on Sheppey, but without success at the moment.