THE fight is on against a fast-spreading foreign plant which has taken root beside a village cemetery.

Invasive Japanese knotweed, which can grow to seven feet high in the summer, has been found growing on the bank of the stream next to Blakeney Cemetery, and Awre Parish Council has agreed to pay Nature Conservation Services £651 in a bid to eradicate it.

Councillors heard that it will be treated this autumn, and will probably need a follow-up treatment next year.

The owners of land beside the stream behind nearby Yew Tree House have also agreed to pay to have knotweed removed, to remove the risk of re-contamination.

Imported to Britain for its ‘beauty’ in the early 1800s, the red bamboo-like plant grows incredibly fast, is very difficult to remove and has been blamed for wiping thousands of pounds off the value of people’s houses.

It can even grow through concrete and tarmac and its roots can go down three metres deep.

The council will also ask NCS to treat a small area of knotweed that has appeared on the Collins Garden wall on Soudley Road.