THE owner of a New Forest field that was used as a massive illegal rubbish tip says his family will be left homeless if he is forced to help pay for its clearance.

Kenneth Lovett says it will cost up to £1.2m to remove the 12,000 cubic metres of waste buried beneath his field off Pollards Moor Road, Copythorne.

Most of the bill is likely to be paid for by taxpayers, but the New Forest National Park Authority (NPA) hopes it can reclaim some of the cash from Mr Lovett.

However, the 59-year-old claims that even if he sold his heavily mortgaged home and all of his property, he could only pay back about £150,000 to £200,000.

Mr Lovett said a £15,000 Environment Agency study had shown the material, which is buried 1.6m below the surface, was not contaminated.

The school caretaker, who lives with his wife, daughter and disabled granddaughter, said removing it would be a waste of taxpayer’s money.

He pleaded for leniency from the New Forest National Park Authority and called for it to be left hidden under the field.

However, local residents and politicians say it poses a potential danger to public health and called for a full clean-up to begin immediately. In his first interview since the saga began in 2006, Mr Lovett described the past four years as “hell”. He apologised to his neighbours. He said allowing a waste contractor to dump concrete, tyres, sand and bricks on his picturesque field as the “stupidest decision of his life”.

Mr Lovett said he ignored the advice of his family, who warned him against raising the level of the field to prevent flooding.

He said he had been “conned” by the waste contractor into believing he did not need a planning application to raise the land. The application was later rejected and he was ordered to return the field to its natural state.

“I want to apologise to the neighbours for what has happened. I didn’t expect it to go this far and I was told that what I was doing was legal,” Mr Lovett said.

“I know that I failed in my planning application and I failed in the appeal and that the materials have to be removed, but financially cannot afford it.”

He said two quotes had come back as £1m and £1.2m, but previous Environment Agency estimates put the clean up cost closer to £500,000. Mr Lovett said the stress of the row had plagued him “every dayand night” for four years. His wife was undergoing chemotherapy for breast cancer when it began and his granddaughter had since been left paralysed by an infection.

“I will always regret it. I cannot explain to you how hellish it has been,” he said.

Asked what would happen if the NPA attempted to recover the clearance cost, he responded: “I’d most probably end up homeless. If they took all my property away and sold it there would still be a huge bill for the taxpayers to pay. It would be the equivalent of the council tax of 500 homes.”

Mr Lovett said he could understand his neighbour’s fears, but claimed they had “exaggerated”

the dangers.

“I believe that it’s not hazardous, the Environment Agency have stated that it’s not hazardous and I can’t see the point of spending taxpayer’s money removing materials that are not hazardous,” he added.

No decision on the clean-up was taken at a meeting of the NPA’s Planning Development Control Committee yesterday.

The committee recommended that a report be carried out by New Forest District Council into the risk the material posed. A full investigation is likely to cost taxpayers another £20,000 to £30,000.

Fordingbridge county councillor Edward Heron labelled the NPA’s action as “woefully inadequate”.

Deborah Thorne, who owns a farm business opposite Mr Lovett’s field, said residents would only be satisfied once all the material was removed. Her campaign has been backed by Copythorne Parish Council and Hampshire East MP Julian Lewis.

“I don’t like that somebody is under pressure, but he could have stopped it when he saw what was going into his field,” she said.