Welcome to the jungle

72-year-old John Murray has been living at Bayview Park for the past six years.

Since he’s been there the grass outside his front gate has only been cut twice.

He said: “The DoE have cut it twice since I moved here. That was the first two years.

“It hasn’t been cut in four years. I think there’s a fight between the Housing Executive and the DoE as to who should cut it. The result is no one has bothered.”

The 72-year-old lives in the Housing Executive house on his own and says he wouldn’t be capable of tackling the overgrown area himself.

John, who used to work for the roads department of the DoE, commented: “People coming to the house can’t get to the front gate. If it was clear it could be used for parking to stop people parking on the road, especially when they’re picking up children from the school.”

The Derrymore man contacted the ‘MAIL’ at the same time last year to complain about the problem, which has still not been dealt with.

“It’s worse than last year,” he said. “Some of the weeds are the same height as the fence. It’s a safety risk for people walking past.”

According to the Lands and Property Officer at Craigavon Council the land has been registered to the Housing Executive since May 12, 1989.

A spokesperson for the Housing Executive said: “The Assistant District Manager from the Lurgan District Office has called today (July 24) with the tenant to inspect this piece of land and to reassure him of our commitment to resolve this issue.

“We are currently trying to establish whether or not this plot of land belongs to the Housing Executive and we can assure residents that if the land is in our ownership we will arrange to have it brought up to an acceptable standard as a matter of urgency.”