A group of volunteers has taken matters into their own hands to clear a woodland of thousands of plastic tree covers.

Kingsborough Manor Woodland has been planted alongside a new building development in Eastchurch, Sheppey.

Around 5,000 trees were planted to create the park, each covered with a plastic protector.

And now 15 years later, the trees have outgrown their covers, leaving them littered all over the woodland floor.

Dave Green, owner of a pest control business and regular user of the woodland, alerted Swale council about the issue but was informed the authority would not be responsible for the clean-up.

The 58-year-old said: “It looks awful. There are literally thousands of these plastic casings everywhere.

“Some of them have fallen off the trees while others are strangling them.

“We need the council to look at it and realise it can’t be left.

“If it was on the beach they wouldn’t leave it.”

Mr Green, who was the driving force behind the Mill Skatepark in Sittingbourne often visits the woodland to walk his dog, as do hundreds of others, and he says it’s a complete eyesore.

“It can hurt wildlife and dogs,” he added.

“They’re also non-degradable so we’re ending up with shards of plastic all over the place.

“I’ve tried to contact the council’s open spaces officer but had no reply by phone or email.

“Any contact I have had with them they say they’re not legally obligated to remove them.”

Mr Green and other park users have now taken it upon themselves to collect the covers a handful at a time.

He said: “People are picking them up daily. We have only been using the tonne bags since about a week ago and there are so many plastic covers it’s going to take ages.

“I reckon we’re going to need to fill around 50 to 100 tonne bags.”

Since Mr Green contacted KentOnline, Swale council has been in touch with him.

He said: “Swale borough council informed me they will do what they can to help but they don’t have any budget.

“They will collect the waste if we leave it at the entrances.”

A spokesperson for the council said: “We value the efforts this group is making to improve the appearance of this much-loved community woodland. As we do all groups of volunteers who offer important localised care and attention to green spaces, which helps supplement our annual maintenance regimes of the open spaces around the borough.

“We would like to assist this group as best we can, so we have offered to dispose of the removed tree shelters.

“These protective covers would slowly degrade, and whilst they have served their purpose in protecting the whips, they do not cause any damage or impede the trees’ growth.

“We now use fully biodegradable covers to protect newly planted whips, helping reduce the need for removals like this in the future.

“We will continue to work, within our budget, to not only help these volunteers but also maintain and protect our green spaces across the borough.”