Councillors in Mansfield have been updated over plans to create a new cemetery on the outskirts of the town.
Mansfield District Council's Overview and Scrutiny committee was told last week that there are only enough plots left at Mansfield Cemetery to provide burial space there for the next three years.
In advance of the cemetery running out of plots, a new facility is being planned off the MARR (Mansfield Ashfield Relief Road) on the edge of the new Lindhurst housing development.
The committee heard that a Cemetery Development Group was set up a year ago to project manage the new cemetery scheme on a site which is expected to provide 13,220 graves over the next 40 years.
Cllr Andy Burgin, Portfolio Holder for Environment and Leisure, said after the meeting: "Mansfield Cemetery has provided a place for people to rest in peace and create a lasting memorial for thousands of families for over a century and now we need to create a new resting place for the people of this district in the future.
"We believe we have identified a suitable spot on the fringe of the Lindhurst development, but this is still at an early stage."
The committee was told that pre-planning application advice has now been submitted and returned for the scheme. Highways advice is also being sought and the ecological impact a new cemetery would have is now being assessed.
The Muslim community has already been consulted over its requirements at a new cemetery and the committee was told other religious groups would be consulted, too.
Muslim leaders have indicated they would not need any further space in the new cemetery additional to the Muslim section at Mansfield Woodhouse Cemetery where additional plots have already been provided.
Burial vaults, which do not require graves to be dug, were installed at the Muslim section of the Woodhouse cemetery to facilitate burials within 24 hours after a person dies, in line with Muslim traditions.