AN eco-friendly burial ground is to be set up in a corner of Guisborough Cemetery.

Woodland burials are becoming increasingly popular with people who want a less commercialised form of burial and who have concerns relating to sustainable environment issues.

Retta Bowen, from the Natural Death Centre, said that a tree is planted as opposed to a memorial stone, and the body, which is usually placed in a cardboard coffin and lowered into a grave, helps to fertilise the tree and make it grow.

Other eco-friendly initiatives include not using formaldahyde to embalm bodies and placing the body in bio-degradable clothing.

"It gives people a greater degree of participation for the people organising the funeral as they have a little more control. It reflects the person," she said.

Redcar and Cleveland Borough Council has been trying to set up one of these sites for nearly two years.

In September 2000, an area of Guisborough Cemetery was chosen as the proposed site because the ground is considered too wet for regular excavation of graves and a normal maintenance regime seen in most cemeteries.

Since then 18 heavy standard trees have been planted as well as a selection of bulbs, and a footpath has been covered in wood chippings. A pergola has also been installed as an entrance feature to the woodland burial site.

The authority said the area will be maintained by simply cutting the grass once a year so that the area will develop into a natural habitat.

The site will house 39 side- by-side graves and because the area will be managed as a woodland area, memorials and floral tributes will be banned so the area can maintain a natural feel. Families will be allowed to erect memorial plaques on seats around the cemetery.

At a meeting of the council's executive earlier this week, where the plans were approved, Councillor Sylvia Szintai said: "I welcome this. We started two years ago asking about different forms of burial. Maybe not a lot of people will apply for it but at least we are offering it."

The site will be ready next month.