A Marchwood waste management boss has declared that the cause of an 18-hour blaze will probably never be known.

Residents were ordered to stay in their homes when a fire broke out among 200 tonnes of rubbish at the village's waste storage centre on Saturday night.

Police are working with fire investigation teams to discover what sparked the fire. Waste company Onyx has also launched an inquiry.

The blaze started in a bunker used to store non-recyclable refuse such as mattresses and sofas.

The firm's logistics manager, Keith McGurk, gave a briefing on the incident at a meeting of Marchwood Parish Council.

Speculating on the cause of the blaze, he said: "I will be patient and wait for the fire service report but I don't expect to ever know."

Mr McGurk said he did not believe the fire was started by arsonists but added that the site does not have 24-hour security.

Onyx has run the holding depot for household waste at Marchwood since it stopped being used as a refuse incinerator in 1996.

Structural engineers have visited the site and have declared the building safe but they need to wait for temporary lighting to be installed before they can assess the roof.

A decision will then be made on whether to continue using the site by Onyx chiefs.

The site is due to be closed in June when the village's new incinerator should be fully operational.