RURAL residents fear that only the departed will rest in peace if plans for a countryside cemetery are allowed to proceed.

Former Purbeck district councillor Ann Mosley believes a burial garden on green belt land at Beacon Hill, near Lytchett Minster, would be a magnet to vandals, drug-addicts and young lovers.

"It's an awful thing to say, but there's no escaping the fact the cemeteries these days are the playgrounds for the underbelly of society, the vandals, those on drugs and lovers with nowhere else to go," said Mrs Mosley.

"Half a mile up the road, the dangerous A350, we have a landfill site. Now there's the prospect of the cemetery the same distance the other way. And our hamlet is caught in the middle.

"Cemeteries these days are used illegally for many things other than burials and we don't want any of that in our little haven.

"It's already been partially spoilt by the landfill site, which we fought against amicably. This time our protests won't be so peaceful. We're fed up and the council can expect militancy."

The Daily Echo revealed at the end of April that Tapper Funeral Service of Poole was investing £500,000 to convert 26 acres of grassland into a woodland cemetery near Lytchett Minster.

Company director Stephen Tapper warned that without this initiative the bereaved of Poole would very soon be left with nowhere to bury their loved ones.

The borough's cemeteries are almost full and the council has nowhere to develop other than a site at Canford Magna, which has been deemed unsuitable because it is next to football pitches and other facilities.

If planning permission is granted, Tapper's cemetery will be the largest serving Poole and district.

Planner officers at Purbeck District Council were last week understood to be considering an application for a change of use of the land.

Another Beacon Hill resident, who has children but declined to be named, said: "The A350 is a notoriously dangerous road as it is. If traffic gets stuck behind a hearse, drivers will become impatient and take chances overtaking. Road rage will come from occasions that should be dignified and respectful."