A plan to have headstones at a new burial ground in a greenfield site has been thrown out.

Councillors rejected the application to have gravestones of up to 75cm high on the site in Jane Murray Way, Burgess Hill, because it was not in keeping with the area.

The site already has planning permission to be turned into a burial ground but it is now likely that only flat gravestones embedded into the ground will be allowed.

Richard Walker, chief planning officer for Mid Sussex District Council, explained the area was very important to Burgess Hill and it had been an exception to allow any sort of development because it was part of the green crescent, an area where building is not allowed.

He said the idea was to give as little appearance of building as possible and there had previously been a move to have green burials with no headstones at all.

If the plans had been given the go-ahead the bereaved would have been able to order cubed gravestones to remember their loved ones because of the dimensions the council was willing to allow.

The detailed matters, such as the size of the gravestones, will be resubmitted at a later date and it is then hoped the new site will help to alleviate the chronic shortage of space for burials in Burgess Hill.