The recent survey also found 85per cent of respondents supported a new crematorium and 92 per cent supported it being built on the same site as the cemetery.

Six per cent did not support a crematorium, with 1 per cent citing environmental concerns.

Eleven per cent of respondents could suggest a site for the cemetery. Mugga Lane got 53 per cent support, Hume 29 per cent and Tuggeranong 18 per cent.

Almost one-third of respondents to the telephone survey said the cemetery should cater for specific types of burials; of those, 45 per cent said cremations and 29 per cent said natural or eco-burials. The ACT Government is proposing a $10million new cemetery and crematorium on 226ha of land on the southern side of the intersection of Mugga Lane and Long Gully Road, opposite the rubbish tip, because Woden cemetery is expected to be full by 2017.

A much smaller survey was also conducted of residents in the postcode 2904, covering the suburbs closest to the proposed cemetery site Fadden, Macarthur, Gowrie and Monash. There were 64 respondents in that telephone survey 79 per cent were ''very supportive'' or ''supportive'' of a cemetery being built in the south.

Full report in today's Canberra Times