I’m furious after the council left our grass verges to overgrow – I refuse to cut it myself but it looks like a tip

FURIOUS residents have said their neighborhoods "look like a tip" after the council stopped cutting the grass verges.

Hacked-off folk in Dereham, Norfolk, have been left with wild roadsides that tower a whopping 2 FEET in some areas.

Despite the anger at the unsightly undergrowth, residents insist it is the council's job to cut it back, not theirs.

Jack James, 76, from the Toftwood area said the verges have got so wildly out of control it's got people talking.

He told the : “It’s terrible. It’s beginning to look like a tip.

“Every time someone comes here, they say ‘Look at the state of your grass’.”

Velma Lambert, 83, said the place needs a tidy-up immediately.

But she insisted: "I can’t do much about it, if they won’t do it.”

The rowing over mowing erupted in the Dereham, Toftwood, Mattishall and Swanton Morley areas after Norfolk County Council allegedly turfed out a grass cutting contract and failed to replace it.

Despite the backlash, Norfolk County Council maintains the verges are cut for "safety reasons", not for appearance.

Parish council chairman Roger Atterwill lashed out at what he said was a lack of communication between residents and the council over the grass.

He branded the cutting saga "has been totally shambolic from start to finish" and bemoaned grass that is "nearly 2ft tall in places"

A Norfolk County Council spokeswoman said: “We cut verges for safety reasons, not appearance, so making sure verges are cut for visibility every year is a vital piece of the work we do to keep our roads safe."