Overgrown trees in Billericay, Essex are being blamed for attracting “hooligans” who damage property and defecate on cars…

Steve Radford, 55, is fed up with the situation. His house backs on to the problem street, which is overrun with out-of-control saplings and unruly sycamores…

Privets and pavement vegetation have become so unkept on Warley’s Brackenwood Estate that one resident claimed she could lose her dog in the knee- high grass.

To which we say: go on, prove it.

In other grass news, the Essex Echo reports:

PARENTS tried to claim more than £10,000 in compensation after a youngster fell over on wet grass at a school.

The claim at Holt Farm Junior School, Rochford, was one of 79 lodged by staff and pupils at Essex schools in the past three years. It was unsuccessful.

Is it time to astroturf Essex?