They said they were fed up with waiting for a response from the owner of Peover Hall about the overgrown state of the prime town centre site.

"We want to work with him not against him," said town mayor Bert Grange.

"But we need a response so that we can look further into what we can legally do to get the work done and then send him the bill."

Residents in Knutsford have complained for weeks about the overgrown trees that shield the Heath from Ladies Mile, Tabley Road and Northwich Road.

Only last week police with dogs were combing the Heath after a half-naked man, who had been hiding in the bushes, terrified a young mother and her child.

Previous efforts to encourage Mr Brooks to take action have fallen on deaf ears. "We don't want to be aggressive towards Mr Brooks. We want him to do something about it willingly," said Clr Grange.

On Monday, Mr Brooks' agent, Graham Pike, refused to answer any questions about the Heath and wouldn't say if anything would be done about the trees.

But Clr Grange warned that the longer the job was left, the harder it would be to get done.

"I have never seen it look as bad as this," he said.

"And because it has gone so long, it'll be a hard job because what were twigs are now small branches."

Town councillors last week agreed to write directly to Mr Brooks at his home in Over Peover, demanding action.

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