A FRUSTRATED councillor has discovered that noisy bikers who have been spoiling a beauty spot have been breaking the law. But no one knew - because council lawyers lost the by-laws in the archives.

Medway Labour Peter Edwards-Daem had been told in 1999 that there was nothing Medway Council could do until it wrote new legislation.

Now the lawyers have discovered the laws were there all along - passed by the former councils in Rochester and Gillingham.

"Just what is happening to the way Medway Council is being run"?" said Cllr Edwards-Daem.

He said that when he tried to stop bikers riding on Coney Banks at Chathamn and other Medway beauty spots in 1999 he was told it couldn't happen until there was a change in the by-laws.

But Chris Buckwell, the Conservative councillor responsible for legal matters on the council's Cabinet, was quick to hit back.

He said: "Labour once ran this council, but it was us that took on the massive job of finding out what went wrong."

But Cllr Edwards-Daem was unrepentant. "This shows incompetence on a grand scale. Residents are exasperated by the continuing lack of action," said the Weedswood councillor.

"We want deeds, not more words. Let's see the Cabinet make a decision to take some enforcement action."

Cllr Buckwell said: "There is action that could have been taken by the police. It is an offence to drive a motorcycle anywhere other than on the public highway. The police have powers to arrest which local government officers do not have."