A SERENE green plot of land in the South Downs National Park could be developed into a natural burial ground where woodland and a wild flower meadow would become places of rest.

Growing public demand has prompted Worthing Borough Council to develop its plan to buy ten hectares of sloping arable farmland next to Worthing Crematorium.

The site has been described as “ideal for use as a natural burial site” by the Institute of Cemetery and Crematorium.

It will need planning permission and an environmental impact assessment will be carried out, with the council expecting to spend £100,000 on research into its plan.

The cost of the land, believed to be currently owned by a private trust, remains unknown.

If the plan goes ahead, a woodland will be planted around a meadow, with relatives offered a choice of either setting as well as smaller cremated remain graves.

Natural burials are where a body is returned to the earth as naturally as possible, so it does not involve embalming, cremation, caskets and coffins or a gravestone, and usually take place in green spaces.

“The site is perfect in that it is a very serene spot,” said Councillor Edward Crouch, the council’s executive member for digital and environmental services.

“This proposal reflects a demand for different kinds of burial.

“It is a peaceful, serene natural setting where people can choose a burial among Weald flowers or in the woodland, where a tree marks a person’s final resting place.

“It is a beautiful thing and it is great that we can offer it to the people of Worthing.

“The funeral market is very competitive and it’s important that we stay relevant and offer something fairly priced.”

He added that as the land is next to Worthing Crematorium, the council would be able to “manage it efficiently”.

Council officers have already told Adur and Worthing councils’ joint strategic committee that its proximity to the crematorium would mean “minimal set-up costs”.

The council estimates that the 37-acre Durrington Cemetery in Findon Road, the town’s main site for burials, will run out of burial spaces within the next nine months.

Work begins this month on an extension on land to the south west, which will create room for more than 2,500 new burial and about 1,200 cremation plots.

It will provide burial space for another 30 to 35 years at the cemetery, which has almost 20,000 burials plots, and will cost more than £900,000.

If the natural burial site plan goes ahead, it will be the first in Worthing, Adur and Arun.

The nearest is 11 miles away in Brighton and Hove, which has three.

Its new Woodland Valley Natural Burial Ground at Woodingdean overlooks the sea and the Downs, while those at Borough Cemetery in Bear Road, which was established in 1994, and Hove Cemetery have no new spaces available due to “a large demand for this form of burial”, according to Brighton and Hove City Council’s website.

There are at least 260 green burial sites across the country, with the first one opening at Carlisle Cemetery in 1993.