LAND near a village church is still littered with tyres, rubbish and empty gas canisters, 19 months after the owners were ordered to clean it up.

It could be months before the disused piece of land, in Chapel Road, next to Boxted Methodist Chapel, is finally cleared.

Colchester Council did not see through its first enforcement notice, and is now planning a second order.

Brian Grant, a Boxted parish councillor who lives near the site, has lost faith in Town Hall officials.

He asked: “Can they enforce it. Will they enforce it?

“It hasn’t been tidied up for years and we would like to see it tidied up.

“The people who live down the lane look out on it and it’s an eyesore. We have been talking about it for a long, long time.”

Jackie Maclean, Conservative borough councillor for Copford and West Stanway, said: “I find it quite frustrating they have had an enforcement notice before and it’s not been followed through. It’s not good enough.”

David Whybrow, the council’s principal planning officer recommended councillors make a second order, at a planning committee meeting, at which he described the former illegal travellers’ site as a total mess.

According to council documents, the land is owned by the children of a Mr W Brown, who died in 1998.

In September 2008, firefighters were called to deal with a large fire at the site.

An enforcement notice ordering the owners of the land to have it tidied was issued in August 2008, but was ignored.

If such an order is not complied within two months, the council has the power to use its own staff to tidy up a site and bill the landowner for the work .

Asked why the council had not taken this action, Vincent Pearce, the council’s planning service manager, said: “The council is looking to serve a notice within the next month under the Planning Act, enforcing both the owners and occupiers of the site to tidy up the land.

“Failure to comply will result in the council taking direct action to tidy the site and recharge the owner for this cost.“