Residents of an Andover square have criticised a housing association for ‘a lack of maintenance’ of their shared spaces.

Residents of Statham Square pay £136 a year for maintenance of their square in a service fee to Aster, which covers services such as weeding and tree surgery. However, they claim that work is not being done, and that they’ve “not seen them in about three years.”

“It’s getting beyond a joke now,” said Julie Sams, one of the residents. “We’re paying this, but nothing gets done.

“We’re scared to go out in case we slip. It’s terrible and it’s just getting worse.”

Aster Group said that the land owned by them was free of weeds.

Julie is purchasing her home, off of Cricketers Way, but still pays a service charge for maintenance of the common area, which is still owned by Aster. The 50-year-old, who suffers from disabilities including fibromyalgia and arthritis, said that she had previously taken it into her own hands but no longer could.

“I used to be fit and able and I used to scrape all the weeds up myself,” she said, “but now because of my illness I can’t get out and do it. For the past year I tried a little bit but I couldn’t, and then this year I haven’t been able to do anything.”

Julie said other neighbours, however, are now doing the work that is being paid for.

“Some new neighbours have moved in and gone over it with the lawnmower, it’s got that bad,” she said. “There’s an old gentleman who is 82 who is doing the side of his house because of it and it’s getting dangerous now.”

Julie claims she has called Aster to discuss the issue, but received no response.

“I keep bringing it to their attention and saying that nothing is being done,” she said. “They guaranteed the weedkiller bloke was going to around but we know for a fact he hasn’t.

“You don’t mind paying if it’s getting done, but we’ve not seen them in about three years.”

A spokesperson for Aster Group told the Advertiser: “We’re sorry to hear that residents are experiencing problems with the walkways near their homes.

“Our team visited the site yesterday morning (July 14) and confirmed that the walkways we own and maintain around Statham Square are free from weeds. We’re unable to make any changes to walkways on land that we don’t own but Test Valley Borough Council should be able to help look into this issue.”