Councils will be allowed to exhume bodies and re-use graves because of a shortage of cemetery space, ministers have said.

Officials will normally be able to re-use burial plots which are more than 100 years old after seeking permission from surviving relatives.

But there could be a case for exhuming corpses after just 75 years "where available space is particularly short", said the Ministry of Justice. And families who object to a relative's grave being re-used will be allowed to defer the exhumation for "at least" a generation, justice minister Harriet Harman said.

The preferred way of re-using graves would be a "double decker"-style approach which involves lifting existing remains, deepening the grave and laying a new coffin on top.

Ms Harman, who is standing as a candidate for the Labour deputy leadership, said: "It is a solution which can offer sustainable land use for the future and the prospects of keeping burial facilities in good order. It is an option which has received wide support."

However, the department said a "substantial minority" of people consulted were against the plans.

In the first consultation published last year, only 17 of the 55 members of the public who responded were in favour of re-using graves. Overall, one third of the 239 responses were against the idea in last year's exercise.

The department is currently drawing up guidelines for councils which wish to introduce re-use of graves.

Ms Harman said a new government survey had shown burial grounds in England and Wales will become full in about 30 years. Remaining space in some urban areas may be much less - for example, London cemeteries have just 12 years left.

Of the 500,000 deaths in the UK each year, about 350,000 are cremated and 150,000 are buried.