Graves at a cemetery near Oxford could be dug up and then reburied much deeper to allow the first new burials at the site since 1969.

The cemetery at St Michael's Parish Church in Cumnor

Oxford West and Abingdon MP Evan Harris is to formally ask the Government to allow new graves to be placed on existing ones at the ancient church cemetery at St Michael's Parish Church in Cumnor.

Cumnor Parish Council has asked the Vale of White Horse District Council to consider the compulsory purchase of land within the village for burials.

It had been hoped that the 1,000-year-old cemetery at St Michael's Parish Church could be reused.

But discussions between the parish council, the parochial church council and current vicar, the Rev Clive Gardner, failed to produce an agreement.

The vicar and churchwardens have since made a formal application to the Home Office for the closure of the churchyard.

But Dr Harris, MP for Oxford West and Abingdon, is urging the Government to reopen the ancient burial ground and is backing calls to introduce a space-saving approach called "lift and deepen", in which new graves are laid on top of old ones.

The issue will be debated in Parliament on Thursday when he will take Ministers to task on their failure to offer a solution to the problem.

Dr Harris said: "All the experts think the best way to do this is to deepen old burial sites -- old graves, not recent ones.

"The Government has said it will do something about this. It has been pestered for years but I'm not convinced there's been any further progress.

"It is not controversial, but the Government seems to run a mile from doing anything about it."

Parish council chairman, Dr Philip Hawtin, backed Dr Harris and said: "The parish council has always been willing to support that idea. We believe the reuse of old burial ground is going to be an essential part of future policy."

Dr Harris said graves of people who died more than 100 years ago were rarely visited but many people wanted to bury their relatives locally. The Government has been conducting consultation on the issue.

Dr Harris said an obstacle to introducing "lift and deepen" was that churches could apply to close graveyards when they thought they were full, which is what St Michael's has done.

He added: "The Home Office in this case is minded to agree -- but the local parish think it is not full."

The church said it had not taken burials in the ancient cemetery -- apart from family graves -- since 1969.

John Hanson, coordinator of Cumnor Parish Conservation Group, said: "There is a great problem in interpreting the law as it seems to stand and the sooner the Home Office and Parliament get their teeth into this one, and try to resolve it, the better."

George Blackall, of Leys Road, Cumnor, whose mother Mary and father William were both buried in the 'newer' burial ground, said the ancient cemetery should be reused. He said: "I don't see any reason historically why it shouldn't be done."