Weeds are climbing Rockwell Green's historic water towers again, just months after the old district council intervened to cut them back.

The fenced off site is once again populated by a dense overgrowth of weeds, standing in excess of five feet tall. Some of the vegetation has started to climb one of the towers, which dates back to the Victorian era.

In January authorities stepped in to clear vegetation from the towers, after it was judged that the growth posed a threat to the structural integrity of the buildings.

The towers were purchased by Croydon-based property developer Anwar Ansari in an auction in 2013 after they were put up for sale by Wessex Water. It was after failing to abide by a council order that he cut back the weeds, that the authority took the decision to carry out the work themselves and send the bill to Mr Ansari.

Mr Ansari's firm, AA Homes, is looking to convert the buildings into flats. In a statement a spokesperson for the firm said:

"We have been really pleased with the interest of the council in this site of important Victorian heritage and have met with them onsite to discuss how to progress things with these iconic towers. 

"We are also so grateful to the council for the help they gave in doing some vegetation clearing of the site. The council's positive constructive approach gives us real hope for positive progress.

"We have also undertaken some maintenance visits to the site these last few weeks, visits which will continue. If there are any local green fingered gardeners willing to take up paid work to get and to keep the site up to scratch we would be very interested to hear from them."

Last month, heritage group, The Victorian Society, called on Mr Ansari to 'sort out' the site or give it up. The group named the towers among Britain's most endangered Victorian heritage sites. The Victorian Society director, Joe O'Donnell, said:

"A common factor with most buildings on our list this year is responsible ownership. Despite all these buildings being Grade II listed they have been neglected for years. Regular, appropriate, maintenance is vital for older buildings. 

"The owners of the buildings on our list should be responsible stewards of these nationally significant buildings. If they can’t or won’t be that they should sell them so someone else can try and secure their futures before it is too late.”

Responding, AA Homes said: "We welcome the push by the Victorian Society for a residential conversion which we are now actively looking at trying to employ specialist architects."

AA Homes has a history of controversies which have hit the headlines. In 2017 the London Fire Brigade found serious breaches of fire safety in flats belonging to the firm. These included a locked fire escape and defective fire doors. One resident told reporters: “It’s terrible. There is no ventilation and we only have one window that opens. The apartment is very small. I’m not sure it’s safe.”

A spokesman for the the firm told the Financial Times that AA Homes were contesting the findings of the London Fire Brigade at a tribunal, and that they had attempted to make entry to fix issues at the property, but were denied entry by a tenant who was subletting it without permission. 

In 2016 Mr Ansari admitted his firm had posted a job advert which excluded British people from applying. An advert posted to the recruitment website Indeed by AA Homes called for "Polish kitchen fitters, plumbers, tilers, carpenters and labourers.” Mr Ansari, who has had contracts working for the government, said the wording was a mistake, and told reporters: 

"A new person put it on. We employ all different types of nationalities. I’ve spoken to the staff member and we may not be using her again. I don’t know why she did it.”

Somerset Council has been approached for comment.