Prostitutes, drug dealers and rough sleepers are using a piece of woodland close to family homes to hang out in, a frustrated resident has claimed – and has urged a housing association to cut down the overgrown trees so they can feel safe in their homes again.

Debbie Hall, who lives on Brecon Way in High Wycombe, says her and her neighbours have suffered anti-social behaviour from people abusing a strip of land and a footpath behind their homes.

She said overgrown trees have given drug dealers and prostitutes the perfect place to hide out – and pleaded with Red Kite to cut them to prevent them returning.

Mrs Hall said: “At night, there is a lot of activity like drug dealing going on down there. You also have prostitutes down there – you can hear them doing what they’re doing. You’re laying in bed and you can hear all this stuff.

“The trees there are about 15ft tall and they need to be cut back – I have spoken to the council time and time again and the police have been up here. They are hanging down over our gardens.

“Workmen have been here cutting some of the hedges back and I was speaking to one of them the other day out the window when all of a sudden I hear a voice from in the bushes asking me what the time is.

“This is happening right at the end of our gardens – there’s a mattress and even underwear there. We can’t sit in our back gardens, or even in our sitting rooms with a lamp on because you don’t know who is there watching you.

“We pay council tax and rent and we can’t even go in our own gardens.”

A spokesman for Red Kite, which owns the land, said contractors from John O’Conner maintenance teams have been in the area cutting back the foliage.

They said: “We can see no evidence of rough sleeping but would ask residents to contact Wycombe District Council if they have concerns.

“Recently we have responded to customers concerns about anti-social behaviour from a property, which has led to the tenant of that home being evicted. We hope this will help reduce anti-social behaviour.

“As issues require a multi-agency approach we have, at the request of Mrs Hall, arranged a meeting with residents at the site on July 26 which we are also hoping a police representative will attend so we can address concerns.

“In the meantime, we ask that any customers who have issues with anti-social behaviour report them to Red Kite, so we can respond.”

“Mrs Hall has also been advised to contact the police if she believes drug dealing and prostitution is going on in this area, so they can react in the appropriate way.

“We regularly carry out inspections for fly-tipping. Now the overgrown bushes have also been cut back we hope this will help improve the issue.

“Last year Red Kite spent £40,000 on cleaning up the 439 reported incidents of fly-tipping we received and over £3,200 a month on litter picking – a total of more than £78,000.

“This is money that could be spent in other areas, so we ask that everyone discards waste in a responsible way and contacts the council if they have bulky items that needs removing.”