POTENTIAL sites for an additional cemetery in High Wycombe are expected to be put forward by councillors at a meeting next week.

High Wycombe Town Committee members have been asked to propose possible sites for additional burial space within the town to officers.

The 17 hectare High Wycombe Cemetery in Hampden Road can cater for about 20-25 years of further burials before it reaches full capacity.

The committee wants to find a suitable site to put before Wycombe District Council in a bid to secure a long-term solution for the town.

The committee meets at 7pm on Tuesday at WDC’s headquarters.

Meanwhile, a new crematorium could be built to the north of Aylesbury to alleviate the pressure on the Chilterns Crematorium in Amersham.

The Chilterns Crematorium Joint Committee, which owns and operates the crematorium on behalf of Aylesbury Vale, Chiltern and Wycombe District Councils, has signed an agreement to purchase a piece of land in a rural area off the A418 between Rowsham and Bierton.

Surveys of the land have begun and will be followed by a pre-planning consultation process in March with the view to a planning application being submitted to AVDC in late spring or early summer.

Councillor Mike Smith, chairman of the joint crematorium committee, said: "The Chilterns Crematorium was opened in March 1966 and serves the local community well.

“With the population of Bucks growing, particularly in the Aylesbury area, it has become apparent over the last couple of years that there is a need for a new crematorium in the north of the county.

“We spent many years looking for a site and this one was found to be the most suitable."