THANET council is battling with Dreamland owners Margate Town Centre Regeneration Company (MTCRC) after the development firm refused to pay the authority more than £40,000 for a new fence.

The council served MTCRC with a notice on September 29 to recover its costs of £42,910 for erecting the fence around the Grade II listed structure which was subjected to an arson attack in April.

It allowed a month for the company, headed by businessmen Toby Hunter and Jimmy Godden, to pay.

MTCRC had already put up a 2.4-metre high metal fence around the site but three weeks later the council said it was the wrong kind of fence and erected its own version.

On October 24, Thanet council were notified that MTCRC had appealed against the decision and the matter is now being taken up by the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, Andy Burnham.

Council insiders say MTCRC claim some or all of the work was unnecessary and the money being requested by Thanet council is "unreasonable."

But council top brass say the money trying to be clawed back is exactly the amount spent to buy and put up the fence, along with an administration charge.

They also claim they have evidence that people managed to get onto the site after the fire despite MTCRC's fence.

Thanet council heritage advisor, Nick Dermott, said: "This is money the council could have better spent elsewhere. We spent the money to protect an asset, and there is no reason for us to bear the cost."

Dreamland's owners last month said the council's decision to put a fence around a fence was hampering restoration of the Scenic Railway.

MTCRC director Ross Stewart said: "I'm not going to make a comment. We're back in talks with the council and it would be more sensitive not to do so."

A culture and heritage grant of £30,000 is due to be spent on a feasibility study of the Dreamland site.

The money, part of a £4.5 million windfall to be handed out to 12 seaside towns, is the latest round of funding from the Government's Sea Change programme.