PART of a playing field could be used as a cemetery to tackle a town’s lack of burial space.

Mold cemetery on Alexandra Road is running out of room and only has about 12 spaces left.

Community leaders have been working to find an extension for the cemetery, expected to become full within the next year, but faced a hurdle when the land they had earmarked near Tyddyn Street was found to have too high a water content for burial purposes.

Now they are looking at using part of a nearby sports field which, if given the go-ahead, could solve Mold’s burial problem for the next 10 to 15 years.

Fred Boneham, clerk to Mold Town Council, said an investigation would have to be carried out on the sports field to check its suitability. A planning application would then need to be submitted to Flintshire Council.

“The long term plan is complicated,” he said. “The short term plan is the sports field adjacent to the cemetery, which we own. That will give us a good few years. We need to finalise the groundwork but hopefully within the year it will be ok to use.”

Proposals to use the sports field near the cemetery were opposed by parents from Bromfield Park and Victoria Court, who said they liked being able to see their children playing on the field from their houses and wouldn’t be able to if the field was moved.

Mold councillor Haydyn Bateman said he was also concerned the plan would create safety problems for children walking down Gas Lane, which currently has no pavement.

The solution being considered by the council is to use the top third of the sports field for burials, still allowing children to play in the rest of the field.