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SUPER-SIZE graves meant solely for overweight people have been planned by a council to cope with Britain’s growing obesity crisis.
In a UK first, the 30 large plots will be dug near the roadside so undertakers do not have to carry the heavy corpses far and will be wider than the usual graves.
The new three-acre burial ground is expected to open next year and councillors said they were responding to requests from funeral directors.
Sutton Bridge and Wingland Parish Council are planning to build the 9ft by 8ft graves – four foot wider than usual – by the entrance of the cemetery.
Parish councillor Vicky Hills, who is leading the project in Lincolnshire, said it was “the result of people not being responsible for their weight”.
She said: “I think in today’s climate obesity is becoming more of a problem. They will cost more money because we are going to have double plots.
“It’s the result of people not being responsible for their weight, basically.
“It was requested by the funeral directors that they should not be too far from the road so they don’t have too far to carry them.
“If you can imagine you’ve got your coffin as well, then you’ve got your body. It’s totally dead weight, to coin a pun.”
The new burial ground should provide for the council’s needs for 100 years and will be situated a mile away from the current cemetery, where space is running out.
The parish council expects the cost of the new facility to amount to more than £200,000 and are due to submit a planning application.
It is not known how much the graves for obese people are expected to cost but it is expected to be thousands of pounds.
Cllr Hills admitted the larger plots would cost more than the standard ones.
In Houghton Regis in Bedfordshire the council charge an extra £75 for obese people to be buried.
Cllr Hills added: “We are just waiting for the detailed drawings and then we will be submit it to the council for planning.
“We haven’t costed prices to bury people yet but it is likely to cost more.
“It is like aeroplane seats, they are all starting to charge more for obese people now.”
A survey published in 2012 found that more than a quarter of adults in England (26 per cent) are obese, while 41 per cent of men and 33 per cent of women are classified as overweight.
Tam Fry, from the National Obesity Forum, said the council’s plans were “sensible” but said the separate plots could upset grieving relatives.
