PART of the land bought by Royston Town Council for its new cemetery will immediately be put back on the market.

Earlier this month the town council completed the purchase of the land at Wicker Hall where the cemetery, which is due to open in 2015, will be built.

While the council already has planning permission for the middle section of the land, and is reserving space at the back for a future expansion of the cemetery, it plans to resell a strip at the front of the site, near the entrance.

Cllr Peter Burt, from the council’s cemetery working party, told an extraordinary meeting of the town council on Monday: “The front part of the land can’t be used for burials as it is too near the water supply. The planning conditions mean we can’t put burials in that area.

“We discussed it at finance committee and our recommendation is that we sell that bit of the land.”

Cllr F John Smith added that it was the “sensible” thing to do.

Previously it had been suggested that the land could be used for allotments, but Cllr Bob Smith, chairman of the finance committee, said: “You could only get three plots in there so there’s no justification to consider it for allotment use.”

As previously reported in the Crow, the new cemetery is set to cost the council over £100,000. It is being built to counter a shortage of burial space in the town.