A great-grandmother is frustrated after finding “unmaintained” brambles on council-owned land are invading her garden and garage.

For the last nine years, Julia Tompkins from Larkfield has had to ask the council to come out to trim back the bushes every year.

The 78-year-old has lived in Priestley Drive since 1987. Her property sits opposite Chaucer Way, which has a small strip of foliage between her property boundary and the pavement.

The land is owned and maintained by Kent County Council (KCC).

“It goes wild every year and it’s not cleared properly,” the retiree explained.

“When contractors come out they leave all the mess there.

“Even when the grass is cut, it is just left and blows over the road.

“There’s nobody to oversee the work that is being done – it is not policed.”

Julia says a team used to chop back and tidy the patch of land every September.

She claims they have stopped doing the scheduled maintenance and so for the last nine years the great-grandmother has filed a complaint with the council, which is acknowledged and eventually dealt with.

This year a thick bramble bush has grown on the land and is now spreading up the back of her garage, over a wall and into her garden.

Julia is worried it will damage her property.

She said: “It’s working its way in and obviously will push the guttering out – then there will be leaks.

“It could go inside of the garage as well.”

In September, the encroaching brambles rooted in her garden, which she paid someone to come and clear.

Julia added: “Sometimes I feel as though I am banging my head against a brick wall.

“It’s wrong, you shouldn’t have to do this. It’s not my responsibility. They should be on top of it.

“They were the ones that insisted on hedgerows and now can’t maintain them. A wall could have been built along there.”

Not only is it growing onto her property, Julia is also concerned that the sharp brambles will potentially injure pedestrians.

She said: “They are very spiteful, with all the prickles. They have quite a thick stem on them.

“Only one person can walk on the pavement.

“They could trip over, especially children – if someone is walking with a pushchair and a toddler, it’s dangerous.

“The buses come round at such a lick that there’s going to be an accident one day.”

This year, she complained at the start of September after seeing no work had been done on the bushes.

After sending a number of emails, she spoke to a representative on the phone who gave her a reference number.

Eventually Julia received a response from KCC, confirming it would be taken care of on Friday, November 24 – but she doesn’t believe this is good enough.

“They don’t realise the extent of the brambles that are there,” she explained.

“You drive up to Kings Hill and it’s like the Stepford Wives, everything is so neat.

“Why can’t it be like that here?

“I’m very frustrated,” she added. “I think it’s horrendous that they sit and can’t be bothered.

“Why should I when I pay £235 a month in council tax?

‘They don’t realise the extent of the brambles that are there...’

“I did think I’d stop paying it, just to see if I could get some action.”

A spokesman from KCC said: “We are aware of a report of overgrown vegetation in Chaucer Way and Priestley Drive, Larkfield.

“Officers have arranged for this to be maintained as part of our programme of works.

“Details of how and when we cut publicly maintained shrubs and hedges is available here.”