Chard family outraged at council for overgrown land behind garden

Luke Marshall, 34, lives with his fiancée, his dog and the couple are expecting a child.

They have lived in their house for three years and have become increasingly concerned about the height of the trees and the damage caused by the overgrown plants and weeds on land adjacent to their home.

They have been told the land is owned by Chard Town Council (CTC), who have been contacted for comment, but did not reply by the required deadline.

Mr Marshall contacted CTC two years ago and has been asking them ever since to get the trees cut back and the overgrown grass removed.

"If the trees were to fall it would hit the house and the roots could possibly be going under our house which would cause damage," he said.

"We get multiple leaves falling into our garden which does not help with keeping the flooding down when it rains."

The garden flooded up to Mr Marshall's knees, and the grass remains boggy as the trees block out the sunlight.

"When we first moved in, we used to get the sun in the garden until around 8/9pm," he added.

"But now we don't even get enough sun to dry out the garden after it rains.

"The floods took out five or six of our fence panels and we have a massive crater where our drive used to be.

"Luckily, when the water started to come into our house, we had the help of our neighbours who were directing it away from our conservatory.

"My main concern getting it sorted before the baby is here, and we don’t want it to happen again.

"We can't use the garden with the baby and we’re trying to pay for a wedding, so can't afford the £6,500 to get our garden fixed.

"We were lucky compared to some people and if our neighbours were not helping us remove the water, our house would have flooded too.

"We just want the council to cut the trees back and culled so the roots don't go under the house.

"We still have water draining from our garden now and it has been week since the floods."