The owner of a caravan site believes Canterbury City Council is making him a scapegoat for fly-tipped rubbish at a neighbouring disused pub.

Artie Lockhart, who owns Prospect Farm near Greenhill, denies any responsibility for the mountains of rubbish dumped at the Share and Coulter by the Thanet Way between Whitstable and Herne Bay.

The city council has also obtained an injunction against anyone setting up caravans on the site without planning permission and names Mr Lockhart’s son Stuart, who lives in Prague, as one of the defendants.

The 60-year-old said: “They seem to think that all the fly-tipped rubbish that ends up at the Share and Coulter comes from here. It doesn’t. Why would I go and fly-tip right next to where I live?

“Also, why would the council seek an order against my son when he doesn’t even live here? It doesn’t make any sense.”

Mr Lockhart’s comments come after about 10 traveller caravans moved onto the site of the former Shepherd Neame pub in Owls Hatch Road last Thursday night. They had gone by Saturday after intervention by the council and police.

The pub, which closed in 2015, has become a magnet for fly-tipped waste and earlier this year the council spent £50,000 removing piles of rubbish, which included everything from bricks and mortar to large household items and car tyres.

After the departure of the caravans a large pile of wooden pallets and an 8ft-high mound of plasterboard appeared next to the pub.

Mr Lockhart says that in the past he has tried to supply the city council with information about vehicles dumping at the site.

He said: “I’ve given them the registration details, but because the registrations are Irish the council don’t seem to want to know. Instead, they make a scapegoat out of me and Prospect Farm.”

Canterbury City Council says its last clearances of the site have cost taxpayers £70,000.

In January the authority secured an indefinite injunction against “caravans and using the site as a caravan site without planning permission”.

A spokesman said: “This injunction was made on the basis of evidence served to the court.

“Meanwhile, we are continuing to investigate the fly-tipping on the site, including the use of CCTV cameras, and would welcome any information from the public.”