A ST NEOTS couple may be forced to move home, claiming a football club is refusing to cut a 60ft hedge that overhangs their house and blocks out the light.

A ST NEOTS couple may be forced to move home, claiming a football club is refusing to cut a 60ft hedge that overhangs their house and blocks out the light.

Gina and Michael Lyle said they asked Eynesbury Rovers Football Club four years to cut the leylandii conifer trees, which cast shadows over the back of their house in The Broad Walk, Eynesbury.

Mrs Lyle, 68, said their requests were repeatedly ignored, and they approached the Sky TV Neighbours from Hell programme, which agreed to look into the case.

A film crew spent two weeks filming, talking with the Lyles and Eynesbury Rovers secretary Deryck Irons, a former St Neots Town Clerk, in an attempt to find a solution.

During the show’s mediation process an agreement was reached and signed by both parties that stated that the conifer trees should be reduced to 20ft. the trees and their maintenance reviewed on a six-monthly basis, and that a joint fundraising pot – the Tree Pot Fund – be set up.

The latter was to raise money for ongoing work with the club premises used for fundraising venues.

However, six months on, the hedge has still not been reduced to the agreed height.

Mrs Lyle said: “Finally, we came to an agreement but [the football club] isn’t sticking to it.

“It’s awful this time of year – the nights are getting darker anyway and those trees block out so much of our natural light.”

Despite having contacted Huntingdon MP Jonathan Djanogly, who wrote to Huntingdonshire District Council on their behalf, the Lyles say they are pessimistic about the outcome.

Mrs Lyle said: “I keep telling Mr Irons to give me some dates about holding a car boot sale to raise funds and I’ll do the rest, but I never hear anything back.

“If the trees stay like this, we’ll have to move.

“All he’s interested in is the football club and that’s it.”

Neighbour Nicki Ashpole, 34, whose 11-year-old daughter’s trampoline was covered in heavy tree-debris from the recent winds, said: “This whole thing’s just a messy nightmare.

“We want the trees here, but they’re just dangerous at that height.

Mr Irons clearly isn’t interested, despite what he agreed to on television.”

Mr Irons said that estimates for the trees to be cut down were about �2,000 and the club did not have that kind of money.

He said: “We’re holding a bit of money back from the end of last year and I think Mrs Lyle has got some, but there’s a fair way to go.

“We’re here every week – she knows where we are. The ball’s in her court, really.”