An Andover resident has spoken of his “struggle” with the council to get a “jungle” of overgrown plants cleared.

Augusta Park Robert Hickman faced a months-long battle with Test Valley Borough Council (TVBC) to have them cut back bushes around his parking spaces, that left him unable to park his car.

He told the Advertiser: “It’s like spilling a pot of paint. The bushes have been planted near the curb, and they just spread everywhere.

“It got to a point where I lost one of my two parking spaces because it was full of undergrowth and thick leaves.”

The council apologised to the 55-year-old, and said they would be inspecting the area again shortly following work on the site.

Following the construction of the Augusta Park estate, bushes and trees were planted around the area. Robert says these have been left to grow wild by the council, and raised concerns about the safety of trees on the site.

“There is a parking area with allocated spaces and behind that are lots of trees that have been planted, but they’ve been overplanted and it’s like a very dense jungle now.

“We’ve got far more trees than we should have, and there are at least three trees that are in danger of coming down which would smash cars and maybe hurt people.”

The author said that he had spent eight weeks “going back and forwards” with the council, calling in MP Kit Malthouse and contacting the Advertiser. While the work has now been completed by TVBC, Robert wants to see more done.

“It’s a struggle to get anything done with the council,” he said. “They’ve cleared the immediate issue, which took about half a day and they put a bit of effort into it. I can park my car now, which is great, but we’ve still got a problem with the trees.

They’ve done half a job. As the winds are picking up, it really needs someone to come around and look at these trees. If it was my land I’d want to thin it out a bit.”

A spokesperson for TVBC told the Advertiser that they didn’t believe there was an issue with the trees, saying: “We are sorry to Mr Hickman for the delay cutting back the shrubs and growth around the car parking bays and are pleased to confirm that work is now complete.

“We will return in the winter to thin the strip of young woodland between the properties as part of our seasonal maintenance programme. One of the council’s arboricultural officers will also visit the area shortly to inspect the recently planted silver birch trees.

“While we don’t anticipate there to be a problem with the trees due to them being young and healthy, we understand concerns have been raised and will therefore visit the site to undertake checks.”