FIFE Council are running out of room to bury the dead and have signed off on plans to cease the presale of burial lairs. 

They'll also reclaim graves sold more than 50 years ago that have never been used and have no successors, and committed to opening new cemeteries in areas of high priority and generally expand capacity.

The new strategy has previously gone through all seven of the council's local area committees, and on Thursday it went before the cabinet committee for approval.

At the forefront is the immediate decision to cease the presale of burial lairs and the reclamation of lairs sold more than 50 years ago that have never been used and have no successors.

READ MORE: Grave news as Fife Council look at sites for new cemeteries

“There is a recognition that a number of cemeteries throughout Fife are nearing capacity,” Liz Murphy, bereavement services manager previously said.

There are currently 10 cemeteries where capacity will run out in fewer than 10 years. A further seven have fewer than 20 years left before they run out of space.

According to the council, Dunfermline cemetery is set to run out of space in under 20 years, Cowdenbeath has fewer than 10 years until it's full up and Ballingry has under five years.

At the other end of the scale, there are sites in Lochgelly and Kinglassie where they can continue to bury the dead for just short of 50 years.

Cemeteries that are closed and already full include those in Ballingry, Cowdenbeath, Auchterderran, Mossgreen and Kinglassie.

A Fife-wide consultation last year netted responses from more than 220 people. Of those, 92 per cent believed that doing nothing is not an option.

Some 51 per cent of consultees agreed with stopping the pre-sale of lairs across all cemeteries to safeguard capacity for the future - and 71 per cent agree that the exclusive right of burial for unused lairs should be retrieved/renewed on expiry of the lease.

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The consultation also revealed a strong interest in the development of “green” burial provision; dedicated areas for the burial or dispersal of cremated remains; and an interest in increased cemetery biodiversity.

At the cabinet committee councillors were told there are "a lot" of unused lairs across the Kingdom.

Ms Murphy explained: “It was quite common in Victorian times and in the early 1900s for a family to buy two or three graves – or lairs as we call them – and to only use one."

The result, she said, would be a huge family memorial stone sitting across all three lairs, but with two lying empty.

“We would have to look at the feasibility of what we’d do with those memorials to free up those unused lairs,” she continued.

The reclamation process will involve advertising, signage and attempts to trace any surviving family members before the lairs can be reclaimed.

The development of new cemeteries is explicitly mentioned in the new cemetery strategy, but plans are not yet well established.

Councillor David Barratt said the new development ambitions feel more like a “strategy to develop a strategy” rather than fully fledged plans.

The bereavement services team is planning to develop business cases, designs, and options for new cemetery locations sometime between now and 2027.

In the meantime, the cabinet unanimously approved the five year cemetery strategy and noted the public consultation results.