UP to 200 bodies are to be dug up at a Blackburn cemetery because they are in the way of the town's new orbital route.

The decision to move the bodies to another burial site will be triggered when the route for the £4million final section of the town's ringroad is, as expected, agreed by Blackburn with Darwen Council next week.

A priest would need to be present for the exhumations, which could be carried out within a matter of months .

The council will also need an order from the Government and would need to carry out checks to ensure the exhumations are carried out in a "dignified" manner.

The move will also give the council the power to buy up the remaining land on the route, between Montague Street and the new £12million Freckleton Street bridge, which is due to be completed next summer.

St Peter's CE Church was built next to the graveyard site in 1820 but was demolished in the 1970s. The council has not found any living relatives of those buried there but would have to advertise its plans to inform those who have not been traced of the plans.

Blackburn with Darwen's transport policy chief Chris Hayward said: "We would have to enter into detailed negotiations with the diocese. There is a process to go through in terms of the remains. We have had an initial meeting to determine if it was a non-starter, but we were informed provided we went through the correct process it could go ahead.

"I think the church was demolished in the 1970s, and nobody has been buried there in my lifetime."

Regeneration director Adam Scott added: "We will have to remove bodies from there. Some of them are quite deeply buried.

"We would have to treat the bodies with appropriate respect before they are re-buried, and need to find out if we need to contact relatives."

The route was one of several options which went out to consultation last year.

The planning document expected to be adopted by councillors on Thursday will give the council the power to compulsorily purchase the sites if the owners do not agree to move.

Negotiations with the Anglican Diocese are at an early stage.

That would include the Byrom Supplies builders' merchants, Chapel Street, despite protests from its owners that the business does not want to move.

But the owners of Chapel Street's Byrom Supplies, Maralyn and Paul Rigby, have fought the plans.

When the proposals were first announced, Maralyn said: "We are not going willingly.

"If they want this site we want relocating somewhere central."

The earliest the road, which will link up with Freckleton Street bridge, is set to be completed will be in 2009.

It will cost £4million plus the amount needed to acquire the land.