A recycling centre in Cliftonville has been closed down because arsonists kept setting fire to it.

Thanet council said that £3,000 had been spent replacing ten paper banks which were destroyed in five separate blazes, all within the past 18 months.

The authority has forked out an additional £1,000 to repair damaged fencing around the site on Northumberland Avenue, where dumped trade waste has also become a major problem.

Cllr Shirley Tomlinson, cabinet member for environmental services, said: “The extent of the vandalism and arson at this site is on a scale that we simply don’t experience elsewhere in Thanet.

“The last thing we want is to give in to vandals but there comes a point when it’s sadly not economic to continue replacing recycling banks.”

The nearest alternative sites for recycling are at Palm Bay Avenue in Palm Bay and Park Crescent Road in Dane Park.