MUSLIMS and Christians will be buried in the same village cemetery, under plans agreed by the land's council owner.

Wear Valley District Council's community services committee agreed to set aside 50 plots in an unconsecrated section of its cemetery in Witton-le-Wear, County Durham.

None of the committee members commented on the move, which came after some of the estimated 200 Muslims living in the district contacted the council to ask to buy burial plots.

The council expects the Muslim population to rise and looked at its cemeteries to find space.

They needed to find a site where graves could face north to south, so buried Muslims could be turned east towards Mecca.

Witton-le-Wear cemetery, which has space in a separate unconsecrated section, was chosen.

Only 12 burials have taken place at the site in the past ten years, giving it an estimated lifespan of more than 400 years.

The village's parish council has not objected to the plan.

The practice of people from different faiths being buried in the same cemetery is common in large towns across England and Scotland, but rare in rural areas.

Shaykh Ibrahim Mogra, chairman of the inter-faith committee for the Muslim Council of Britain, said Muslims and Christians had similar burial traditions.

Muslims should be buried as close to their homes as possible and as soon as possible after death, he said.

He said: "It is quite a common practice throughout the UK for local authority cemeteries to be sectioned off for different religious groups.

"Muslims and Christians share many common beliefs regarding death and the afterlife, including the idea of judgement and accountability to God."