A LANDOWNER could face a massive £500,000 clean-up bill after illegal waste was found buried beneath a New Forest field.

Using scanners, similar to those used on Channel 4’s Time Team series the Environment Agency was able to pinpoint the waste.

The state-of-the-art equipment used electrical currents to create an underground map of the field, off Pollards Moor Lane, Copythorne.

It led the EA to a large area of waste, which was supposed to have been removed in May 2008, buried about 1.5m below the surface.

About 11 to 12,000 cubic metres of waste including wood, plastics, tyres, bricks and rubble were discovered across the field.

The New Forest Park Authority (NPA) has previously said it could reclaim the cost of removing the rubbish from the field’s owner, Kenneth Lovett.

A NPA spokesman said: “The authority is very disappointed to learn that a large area of waste remains on the site and that the terms of the enforcement notice have not been met by the owner.

“We are now carefully considering the conclusions of the report from the EA, which we received at the end of last week.

“The findings of this report will help to inform our next course of action to secure compliance with the enforcement notice.”

While the site is not considered to be hazardous, the amount of contaminated waste dug up will largely dictate the clean-up bill.

The EA said that in 2006, Mr Lovett had tried to raise the level of the land, which lies on a floodplain, with waste material and by diverting the stream that ran through the field.

Mr Lovett, who lives next door to the field, told New Forest magistrates that waste operators had told him he did not need a licence or planning permission.

He appealed unsuccessfully against enforcement action taken by the NPA and a planning inspector ordered him to restore the land to its previous state.

Mr Lovett was fined £3,550 and ordered to pay £2,375 costs.

It is the first case of its kind in the UK and the EA hopes the technology will be used to trace buried waste sites across the country.

Attempts to contact Mr Lovett were yesterday unsuccessful.