OXFORD could run of space to bury its dead within the next three years.

The city council said it expects Wolvercote cemetery to be full within 12 to 18 months.

And the one remaining city burial site in Botley is expected to be full within three to four years. Headington and Rose Hill cemeteries have been closed to new burials since 2003 and 1995 respectively.

The city council has spent £20,000 hunting new burial grounds for several years without finding a suitable site.

In 2011 a report before the city council said it expected grave space would run out in the next decade.

However last night it emerged the plot shortage was more drastic than first thought. Oxford’s population is increasing and in the last year Oxford’s mortality rate has risen, causing the council to revise its prediction.

Spokeswoman for Oxford City Council Louisa Dean said: “We anticipate that Wolvercote Cemetery could be full within 12 to 18 months and Botley could be full within approximately three to four years.

“We are working on proposals for a new cemetery in Horspath and when we have completed further testing and if the site remains suitable, we will be consulting with the public.”

Factors such as tree roots causing problems under the ground and the growing mortality rate resulted in the revision of available burial plots.

The city council carried out a feasibility study and ground surveys at the Wolvercote cemetery Five Mile Drive site, two areas in Horspath and Hill Farm, Marston, in 2011.

Horspath was the only one judged suitable.

A £1m plan was drawn up but two years on the city council is still waiting for the results of further tests to establish whether the ground is suitable.

A further potential hitch is that the Horspath site is on protected Green Belt land and could cause a legal row if built on. A 61-year-old covenent protects the site at Horspath.

It was given to the city council by the Oxford Preservation Trust in 1952, on the understanding it would be kept for the benefit of the city’s residents. Development on the site is forbidden, including chapels or other buildings.

Chairman of Horspath Parish Council David Horsley said: “There are a number of issues to overcome.”

According to the 2001 census, Oxford’s population was 134,272, but had grown to 151,906 by 2011, an increase of 16,634 people.

According to the Office for National Statistics Oxford’s mortality rate was 6.3 last month, which means for every 1,000 people there would be on average 6.3 deaths a year.

Last year the average rate was 6.0.

The city council said it needed to identify about 20 acres which would offer at least a century’s worth of burial space.

The Revd Canon Judy French, vicar of Charlbury and assistant archdeacon of Oxford, said: “Churches work with local councils to support their communities in finding space for burials.

“Where churchyards still have space, burials continue but many of them are full.”

City and county council ward member for Wolvercote John Goddard said: “It seems the city council doesn’t want to think too much about it.

“I don’t know why they are dragging their feet but I think they really do have to act sooner rather than later as we are running out of spaces.”

According to the Office of National Statistics about 30 per cent of all deaths result in burials across the UK.