Haywards Heath is running out of room to bury its dead.

Councillors are now looking for another five acres of suitable land and will launch a public consultation exercise tomorrow.

If extra space cannot be found, the town will run out of burial plots within seven years.

Neighbouring Burgess Hill faces a similar problem and is fighting opposition to plans for a new facility near Jane Murray Way.

Haywards Heath Town Council, which runs the main cemetery at Western Road, needs to make sure there are enough plots for the next 50 years.

Fourteen sites have been examined and 12 are now being put forward for further consideration by Mid Sussex Council.

They are at Penland Farm, Haywards Heath; north of Butlers Green Road; Paiges Land west of Butlers Green Road; another part of the Paiges Land area; west of Beech Hurst; Gravetye Lane; Lyoth Lane; Hurstwood Lane; north of Hurstwood Farm; between Fox Hill and Hurstwood Lane; and west of Sandrocks in Rocky Lane.

The final choice may also serve Lindfield because burial space at Walstead Cemetery, which serves the village, is expected to run out in about five years.

The council will draw up a shortlist for public consultation.

One site will be included in revised development plans for the district, due to be published next summer.

Councillors have been advised that anyone living near to proposed burial sites could object to any changes by claiming it would interrupt their enjoyment of their homes.

But officers say the authority could argue that providing enough burial spaces for residents is in the interest of the district as a whole.

Chief executive Bill Hatton says in his report: "Allocating a site for a new burial ground will always be a very sensitive issue.

"The search for a suitable site is not an easy task, as the long search for a site in Burgess Hill has demonstrated."