A Banksy has been recovered from a derelict container on Dungeness Beach amid fears it could be destroyed by landowners.

Site owners of Dungeness Beach have warned locals of their intentions to clear the beach, destroying the container featuring the artwork.

Concerned the landowners would arrive unannounced to destroy the Banksy, Dungeness residents sold the artwork to Banksy expert and art collector John Brandler in the hope of giving it a new lease of life.

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The artwork is thought to have been created in 2004, as a sequel to a previous graffiti created on the same derelict container.

After the first Banksy - a bird sitting on a branch - was stolen 12 days after completion, the anonymous artist then returned to Dungeness to create a second painting.

This is the piece Brandler has now salvaged and restored.

With many years of working with Banksy’s behind him, Brandler, who recently authenticated a rediscovered Banksy in London, recognises the rarity of this artwork.

John Brandler said, “Banksy has only used the image on the container a couple of times, including the CD he did for Think Tank but with a man holding the petrol nozzle”.

Brandler says the graffiti is of real importance: “The bird has been used very, very, very few times. It is quite an important visual object”.

Thanks to the local community, who covered the artwork in paint, the Banksy has been preserved for the last 13 years from the harsh sea air.

To obtain the Banksy, Brandler requested the expertise of construction recycling firm Land Logical.

The Dartford-based company used specialist equipment to salvage the container, remove the Banksy ready for restoration and ecologically recycled the metal and wood on the container.

The newly preserved Banksy has been rumoured to feature in museum exhibitions in Europe, however, as part of British Art Heritage, Brandler hopes the Banksy will stay in the UK.

It is currently available to view in John Brandler’s art gallery, ‘Brandler Galleries’ in Brentwood, Essex.