New inscriptions will then be added to existing headstones while some old gravestones could even be removed altogether. Up to a dozen local authorities around Britain are set to begin an 18-month trial of the scheme.

A Government report last year found that burial space in England and Wales will be full in 30 years, while some urban boroughs are already out of room.Tim Morris, the chief executive of the Institute of Cemeteries and Crematorium Management, says that only graves more than 100 years old that are no longer visited will be considered for the scheme.

Mr Morris, who is also a member of the Government's burial advisory board, told The Times: "In the cities this is a serious problem and our cemeteries are just not sustainable. We need these powers across the country or we are going to have serious disposal problems."

Almost a third of the roughly 600,000 people who die each year in Britain are buried.

Time to bring out the industrial mincers?

The original was here