A front page grave stone marked the launch of a regional daily’s campaign to find a new cemetery for a town running out of burial plots.

The Nuneaton News illustrated the campaign with the mock-up monument, marked as the resting place of the ‘last person to be buried in Nuneaton’ – after estimates spaces for burials in the Warwickshire town could run out in as little as two years.

A petition calling on the local council to look at possible sites for a cemetery, or extend current sites, is now being circulated by the newspaper.

The campaign is being run in conjunction with local funeral directors and the Nuneaton Muslim Society, and was launched on yesterday’s front page, pictured below.

Editor Gary Phelps said: “We decided to launch the campaign over concerns that Nuneaton is running out of burial plots, and that local people will soon struggle to find a final resting place for their loved ones within the borough.

“We came up with the idea of a grave stone for the front page which marked the resting place of the ‘last person to be buried in Nuneaton’, as we thought it would be a powerful way of driving home the issue to our readers.

“But we recognise this is a very sensitive issue. News editor Claire Harrison has worked very closely with these community and business groups to come up with some very reasonable suggested solutions to a controversial situation.”

The petition will require 3,000 signatures to trigger a debate on the issue by Nuneaton and Bedworth Borough Council.

Gary added: “Our petition calls on the borough council to look again at possible sites for a cemetery, or at ways of extending current sites.

“As always, there is pressure to put new homes on any available land but we think this issue should take precedence. This is about an issue that affects not only this generation but generations of Nuneaton and Bedworth people to come.”