Taxpayers will have to foot the bill to clear up household and business waste left at a notorious fly-tipping hotspot in Colchester.

Piles of rubbish were found off Haven road in the Hythe yesterday, and because the site is council-owned, the authority will have to pay to clear it up.

Shane Taylor, street services team leader for Colchester Council, said it would be an expensive job to remove the rubbish.

"It's a site that's owned by one of our other departments," he added.

After the discovery Mr Taylor was called in and following an investigation he said he had found correspondence and other evidence that the rubbish had come from a house and a business.

"We have got two separate investigations ongoing now," he said.

Mr Taylor said the house and business would be sent letters asking if they had used a licensed company to dispose of the waste.

It could be the case that the rubbish was dumped by a company which they had employed in good faith.

"They could find themselves visited by police and brought before the magistrates," Mr Taylor added. "It is quite a serious business."