The future of an owl rescue sanctuary has been saved after clarification was given to those who run it over a town centre pitch fee.

Brian Maxted has been running Folkestone Owl Rescue Sanctuary from his home in Downs Road for nearly 30 years.

Shoppers in the Folkestone town centre have become accustomed to seeing Mr Maxted, his owls and volunteers at the same pitch outside Shoe Zone on Thursdays and Saturdays for the past two decades.

But today is the first time the sanctuary had not made an appearance.

Jane Jaguar, the administrator, said a letter was given to the sanctuary last Thursday and outlines that a fee between £25 and £50 is expected and that the spot was “subject to availability”.

She said that this had meant that the volunteers were no longer welcome at their original spot.

But this has since been clarified by Shepway District Council, who said the sanctuary was only asked to give up their pitch for one day.

A spokesman said: "There seems to be a lot of confusion around what is happening.

"Mr Maxted was asked to move for only one day and can continue to use his usual site free of charge.

"Our officers are meeting Folkestone Town Centre Management soon to discuss the situation and when we spoke to Mr Maxted he seemed happy with this.

“We are puzzled by claims of a £50 charge."

Chairman of the Folkestone Town Centre Management group, Ben Sharp, said: “We do issue a standard letter to all applicants of the precinct setting out our requirements to ensure that all safeguards are in place.

“The current situation arose because the pitch that Mr Maxted normally occupies was required by a fee paying commercial organisation on Thursday, October 27 and Mr Maxted was offered instead without cost an alternative area just outside Lloyds Bank.

“It was indicated to him that his normal pitch may also be in demand by other fee paying users on future dates leading up to the festive season.

“He has launched an online petition which globally has attracted some 50,000 supporters to date based on a rather one sided version of events.”

Mr Maxted said the organisation collects on average £150 a week from shoppers in the town, who are able to stroke the owls and ask questions about them.

The online petition. signed by more than 40,000 people, threatened that if any charge was implemented that more than 40 owls that belong to the sanctuary would have to be destroyed.