A VILLAGE waterfront is under attack from a foreign invader – in the form of the fast-spreading Japanese knotweed.

The invasive non-native plant, which can grow to seven feet high in the summer before dying back in the winter, has taken over part of the Quayside riverbank in Tintern.

Councillors have met onsite near the Anchor Inn to see the extent of the problem, and have been told it will cost around £800 to treat the area next autumn in a bid to eradicate the plant.

Tintern Community Council was asked a plant control company to quote for the work, which will require a second treatment in 2018, and have written to Tintern Abbey owners, the Crown Estate, to see if they will contribute to the cost.

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.

The council is also planning to tarmac the Quayside to Anchor Inn pathway, which is projected to cost around £4,000, but knotweed can even grow through concrete and tarmac and its roots can go down three metres deep.

Anyone digging it up to try and get rid of it should know that it is governed by environmental protection laws and the plant must be disposed of at licensed landfill sites.

St Briavels is also currently under siege near the castle, with parish councillors examining how best to tackle knotweed on The Tump.

It’s not the first time the invader has reared its head there, having got as far as the Castle Moat four years ago.