Residents Peter Bonney, Una Semmens and Carol Bonney near the overgrown trees

Residents at Wood Farm, Oxford, fear a child will be hit by a car because tall overgrown trees mean drivers cannot see young people running out of a park and into the road.

Peter Bonney, of Nuffield Road, Wood Farm, says he has been asking Oxford City Council to prune or cut down a 30ft long strip of 16ft high willow trees for the last three months.

He says the trees mean drivers cannot see children who run out of the park into Nuffield Road until the very last moment.

He said: "I have been fighting to get them taken down for months. The problem is that the trees come off the path and into the road and buses and cars just can't see children if they run out into the road.

"The council told me it can't chop the willows down until July, but gardeners tell me they can be chopped down at any time of the year. I'm very disappointed with the parks department."

Mr Bonney said he had spoken to five people at the council. He added: "It's not good enough. It's utterly ridiculous that they put a willow ahead of children's safety."

Mum-of-three Vicky Ochiela, 26, said the area was so overgrown her children called it 'the jungle'.

She added: "There have always been bushes and trees around in the grassy area but you could look over them. Now they are so thick there have been reports of a man in the trees watching children.

"Also there is a real danger of children running out into Nuffield Road. There are a lot of hooligans in the area and they whizz down that road. This is definitely something that a lot of mums worry about. The council have let it go and it's very worrying."

City council spokesman Louisa Dean said the trees were on the parks department list to be pruned back. She said the work was due to be carried out in two weeks.

9:29am Monday 16th October 2006

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