Mick offered apology over wild garden (From Echo)

Mick offered apology over wild garden

3:00pm Friday 3rd July 2009

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THE owner of a house who has left its gardens to grow wild for three years has apologised to his neighbours.

Mick and Jane Harvey, who live in the neighbouring bungalow, have been left at their wits end, as brambles and weeds have taken over the front and back gardens of the property.

The couple say the derelict bungalow, in Philmead Road, Benfleet, is ruining their lives and has also attracted mice to the vegetation.

Mr Harvey, 66, said he had been forced to spray weedkiller along his garden fence twice a week to stop weeds destroying his plants.

The couple have also had to call pest controllers, on two occasions, to deal with mice infestations.

Mr Harvey said: “We’ve had as many as five or six mice running around our kitchen. It’s becoming a health and safety issue.

“One night I was in bed and I heard a noise.

“I went to take a look and it was a mouse running through a bowl of pot pourri. I had to get up and chase it out.”

The undergrowth is now so well established, Mr Harvey fears it could pull down part of the bungalow, damaging his own home in the process.

The Harveys have contacted Castle Point Council twice for help.

Mr Harvey said: “We’re not being Nimbys. We just want the council to take action, because it’s making our lives a misery.”

Peter Stroud, of Beresford Gardens, Hadleigh, who owns the property, has now apologised to the Harveys.

He assured them he would tackle the overgrown plants.

Mr Stroud said: “I apologise to my next door neighbours for the inconvenience caused.

“If all goes to plan it should be cleared by the end of the month.”

Mr Stroud would not say why he had left the undergrowth to grow for so long, but he denied the mice had come from his property.

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