Taxpayers face a bill of up to £30,000 to remove chalk mounds illegally placed on the South Downs.

The "bunds" on Telscombe Tye were supposed to keep travellers and flytippers out of a protected field.

But the contractors who dumped them used chalk contaminated with building waste including concrete, window frames and plastic pipes.

The South Downs Joint Committee (SDJC), previously known as the South Downs Conservation Board, has introduced thousands of tonnes of material over the past year.

The organisation, which manages the Tye on behalf of landowners Telscombe Town Council, was wrongly told that planning permission was not needed.

When it was discovered this was not the case, the council applied for retrospective permission to East Sussex County Council but was refused.

An appeal against the decision would cost Telscombe Council £800.

Phil Belden, Countryside Manager for the SDJC, said the £30,000 estimated cost for taking the chalk to landfill was a "worst case scenario".

He hoped they would be able to use all or some of the chalk for other projects in Sussex.

Simon Culpin, senior ranger for the SDJC, said he did not know where the money would come from but it was possible taxpayers would be footing the bill. The SDJC is still in negotiation with Telscombe Town Council, Lewes District Council and East Sussex County Council to decide what to do about the bunds.

Mr Belden said; "If you take the bunding away what do you do with the Tye?

"In a referendum in 2001, 80 per cent of people wanted the Tye defended."

Mr Culpin said the SDJC would have to apply to the Government to replace the bunding with fences and permission would probably be refused but East Sussex County Council does not want any bunding on the Tye.

He said the SDJC was in a Catch-22 situation.

Rick McKellar, who lives near the Tye and who complained about the bunds to the county council, said: "When people voted in that referendum they voted for fences - not bunds, gates or cattle grids."

"The council haven't listened to us and they're doing the same thing now."

Kathleen Verrall, Telscombe Town Council Clerk, said: "The bunding was seen as the best option."