SHRUBS and bushes in a Lancaster park are to be ripped out to end a long running land battle.

The greenery, which has been planted around Parkfield House in Greaves Park by a local businessman, encroaches on Lancaster City Council land, say councillors.

So a team of council workers and city contract service workers have started marking out boundaries in an effort to reclaim the land.

Cllr Ian Barker, leader of the city council, says Bernd Konemann illegally occupied it in 2001.

"Members of the public have complained that they are being restricted from using the land Mr Konemann has taken over," he says.

"The matter was considered by the County Court which confirmed the land was in the ownership of the city council, despite assertions to the contrary by Mr Konemann."

Cllr Barker says the council has tried to resolve the land dispute amicably and was willing to allow Mr Konemann to licence a section of it.

But he adds: "His refusal to negotiate with us meant we had no option but to repossess the whole of the land."

For his part, Mr Konemann is angry at the action the council has taken - and says that putting an eviction notice on plants is complete 'nonsense'.

"Something lovely is going to get destroyed and it is outrageous," he says. "I need to have a boundary and so I will put up a tall fence because I am the victim here."