THE owners of an Oxfordshire golf course have been ordered to search for building rubble on the site in the latest twist in a long- running legal battle.

Ron and Mick Wyatt have been ordered by the High Court to comply with an earlier court order to remove waste from Waterstock Golf Course at Tiddington, south Oxfordshire.

The brothers have been locked in a legal battle with Oxfordshire County Council since 1997, after using tens of thousands of cubic metres of waste from the construction of the nearby M40 service station to shape the course.

It has taken 14 years of legal action by County Hall to try to secure its removal.

Last year the High Court ruled the brothers had not complied with an order to remove the waste, and imposed a suspended sentence on them, with a condition they undertake the work by May this year.

The pair insist all the waste has been removed.

But at a fresh hearing last month, the High Court found they had not complied with the new order.

There will be a further hearing in November for an update from the brothers as to their progress in locating and removing the waste.

Ron Wyatt, 69, told the Oxford Mail: “The problem we have is we do not know if there is any waste on the site, and if there is, we do not know where it is. We have to go back to court next month to establish the findings of the exploratory work and to produce the name of the contractor doing the work for us, then we will have until the middle of November to do the work.”

The brothers say they have been left penniless after spending £1.5m on the legal battle.

Oxfordshire County Council spokesman Owen Morton said: “The court rejected the Wyatts’ contention that there was no waste remaining on site and found that the Wyatt Brothers, the individual directors and the company, were in repeated and deliberate contempt of court, and had been so for many years.

“There had been no realistic efforts to comply with the court order made last year.”