Fears that part of Banbury's Southam Road cemetery is being neglected are unfounded.

Town Clerk Tom Thompson has received complaints that the oldest section of the graveyard - the Cope Road end - is overgrown and apparently abandoned.

But the one-acre site is part of a Living Churchyard Conservation Project.

It is deliberately left unattended so that it can return to a natural state with wild flowers, flora, and fauna.

Mr Thompson said the conservation project was a national scheme. Some rural churchyards were being left alone to encourage wildlife.

He said: "But with the Banbury cemetery so close to a main road, we do not expect to see many animals or birds.

"The common perception is that the cemetery has been abandoned, but in fact we are still maintaining it.

"We keep the pathways clear and make sure the gravestones are safe."

He said the graves in the conservation plot were up to 150 years old and were not looked after because there were no living relatives of the deceased.