Disgraceful fly-tipping near an abandoned pub is finally being cleared after council bosses spent a staggering £50,000 getting rid of the mess.

Mounds of rubbish, bricks and rubble have been left outside the Share and Coulter in Owls Hatch Road, Greenhill.

But city council bosses have now forked out thousands of pounds to clear the waste, which has been dumped on private and public land.

“We do not own any of the land involved, but such was the unacceptable condition it was in, attracting complaints to us from residents, we took the decision to tackle it again,” said city council spokesman Rob Davies.

“This site is in a very vulnerable, remote location and has been subject to repeated fly-tipping over a long period of time.

“It is a very difficult matter to resolve but we are doing all we can, with our very limited powers, to improve the situation.”

Last year, council bosses spent £21,000 clearing 11 tonnes of waste from the site, but the problem continued to persist.

Contractors were seen clearing the land this week and are expected to stay on site for a few more days.

“It is likely we will have spent around £50,000 in total on these two clearances,” added Mr Davies.

“We are working with police and the county council to try and reduce the problem as much as we can.

“CCTV cameras have been deployed to try and catch the fly-tippers, and together with the police, we are investigating this criminal activity on the site.

“We have also secured a court injunction to prevent caravans accessing the land.”

Chestfield parish council chairman Steve Bailey has long-called for the council to remove the rubbish from around the pub, which was sold by Shepherd Neame in October 2015.

“I certainly welcome the clearing of the land,” he said.

“The pub may just be outside our parish, but it is still something we feel very passionately about.

“I hope this is now the end of fly-tipping there and hopefully the publicity can help.”

The Share and Coulter situation will be highlighted on BBC’s The One Show programme at 7pm on Tuesday.