A prominent Oxford city councillor has appeared in court for failing to remove rubbish dumped outside a house he owns.

Mohammed Abbasi, a landlord and a Labour councillor for Cowley Marsh, appeared at Oxford Magistrates' Court on Friday.

The hearing came after neighbours complained to environmental health chiefs about an accumulation of mess in the side and back gardens of the house in Gaisford Road, Cowley.

Officers visited the house and served warning notices ordering the mess to be cleared up.

But when nothing was done the council lost patience and decided to take court action.

Mr Abbasi, 65, of Warne- ford Road, was due to be tried for failing to comply with a notice served under the Prevention of Damage by Pest Act 1949.

But at the eleventh hour he offered to be bound over if the council withdrew the charge.

Magistrates bound him over for a year, but ordered him to pay £269 towards the council's costs.

The Liberal Democrat-run council has been criticised over the handling of the city's waste collection arrangements since fortnightly rubbish pick-ups were introduced last year.

Mr Abbasi said the house was being rented to his 28-year-old son Zafran at the time the notice was served in February.

He said tonight: "It has nothing to do with me at all. The notice was given to me and I passed it on to my son.

"It is embarrassing, yes."

The case is only the third time this year the authority has taken court action against a landlord over rubbish at their properties.

Lib Dem city councillor Jean Fooks, the woman responsible for Oxford's waste collection and environmental enforcement, said: "It is embarrassing for Labour.

"This is a city councillor who is setting an extraordinarily bad example. We gave him several warnings and we expect responsible behaviour from councillors."

Mr Abbasi is a member of a disciplinary committee set up to reprimand Town Hall directors and business managers. He is also a member of the top-level strategic development control committee.

Mr Abbasi's group leader Bob Price said: "It is unfortunate he did not respond to the request by environmental health to deal with this particular problem.

"As far as we are concerned the magistrates have dealt with it and we expect him to conform to their requirements."

Green group leader Craig Simmons said: "Labour talks the talk, but when it comes to it, their own councillors aren't serious about the environment or the quality of the neighbourhoods in which they live. We not only have a duty to make policy, but to demonstrate to others we are responsible. If we can't, how can we expect others to?"

A city council spokesman added: "There are other cases that officers are investigating, and we will continue to take tough action to enforce the law whenever legal notices are not complied with."