Enforcement action is being taken to stop industrial-scale waste dumping, on a riverside site designated as an area of outstanding natural beauty.

Medway Council has served an enforcement notice on the 'owners and occupiers' of Brambletree Wharf in Borstal, where lorries have been seen dumping building waste and cars for the last six years.

The activity has effectively turned what was marsh and farmland into a massive scrapyard and tip, but those responsible have now been ordered to redress the situation.

The alleged breach of control is described as “without planning permission the material change of use of the land to a mixed use for the importation, deposit, processing and transfer of waste, stationing of shipping containers for storage, vehicle breaking and repair, and a residential caravan site, including the construction of buildings, fencing, gates and hardsurfacing.”

The notice served yesterday orders the occupiers to, "cease the use of the land" and to "remove from the land any and all waste, materials, equipment, plant, containers, vehicles, caravans, park home, buildings, fencing, gates, structures and other items associated with the unauthorised use."

They are also ordered to "restore the land to its condition before the unauthorised use took place."

The Notice comes into effect on January 27, unless an appeal is made beforehand, and the owner and occupiers have six months to comply.

Councillor Stuart Tranter, who has been pushing for action together with Rochester MP Kelly Tolhurst, welcomed the news.

"This is not yet over, and other related investigations are continuing, but a welcome step forward," he said. "This has taken years of effort, and is one of the most challenging, complex and frustrating projects I have ever worked on.

"My sincere thanks to Kelly Tolhurst MP for her amazing support and to Tim Joiner who is relentlessly continuing to gather and collate evidence, and of course to the officers who dealt with the legal complexities."