A DEAL could soon be struck to avert a potential crisis in the amount of land available for burials in Chipping Norton.

The town council, the field reeves - who care for much of the town's common land - and Oxfordshire County Council are close to signing an agreement that would end fears that Chippy could run out of burial space.

The agreement cannot come too soon for some. Councillor John Peterkin told last week's town council meeting: "It is a total shambles and something has to be done about it, because we have run out of space."

Yet coun John Grantham, who is also chairman of the field reeves, told him an agreement was very close.

"I'm hopeful that this will not take many more days to resolve. We have made it clear that if we don't get it resolved soon we shall be in a situation where we are having problems with burials, but we are almost there," he said.

Discussions over an extension to the town's cemetery have been going on for more than three years. The council asked to buy some land from the field reeves, but they were worried that over the years they had lost too much of their land and said they would be reluctant to release more without finding other land to replace it.

Coun Grantham said: "The town council, county council and the reeves came up with a solution, which was for us (the reeves) to sell a couple of acres to the town council and in return we would enter into a tripartite agreement whereby the reeves would be able to purchase a piece of land in London Road from Oxfordshire."

He said he believed the three parties had now come to agreement after a late hitch over the legality of a minor clause. He repeated his belief that the deal would soon be signed, allowing work on the cemetery extension to start.