Illegal Dump the Size of a Football Field Triggers Arrests in Oxfordshire
Two men have been arrested in connection with a huge fly tip that appeared in a field in Oxfordshire, leaving behind a mountain of waste weighing around 21,000 tonnes and stretching some 500 feet in length.
The illegal dump, near Kidlington, has sparked widespread anger and is expected to cost the Environment Agency about £10 million to clear. On Thursday, the agency confirmed that a 69 year old man was arrested at a property in Andover in Hampshire, while a second man aged 54 was arrested in Slough. Both are suspected of environmental offences and money laundering linked to the giant tip.
The arrests are part of an ongoing investigation and both men have since been released on bail. The enormous pile of waste sits between the River Cherwell, which later flows into the Thames, and the A34. It is made up largely of processed domestic rubbish, including shredded plastics, polystyrene and other household materials. Investigators believe the waste was dumped in a single operation and it has been described by one MP as “threatening an environmental disaster”.
It is still unclear exactly when the waste first appeared, but the Environment Agency was alerted in July last year. Local walkers and residents grew increasingly frustrated as months passed with little visible action, despite fears about pollution, flooding and fire risks.
The Kidlington site is one of at least 517 illegal waste dumps currently recorded across England. Of those, 11 are classed as so called super sites because they contain more than 20,000 tonnes of waste. Other examples include a 280,000 tonne site in Cheshire, two sites of around 50,000 tonnes in Lancashire and Cornwall, and a 36,000 tonne dump in Kent, reported the Daily Mail.
Police say most of these illegal sites are hidden in rural areas on what should be protected greenbelt land. They are often run by organised criminal gangs who undercut legitimate waste operators by charging far less to take and bury rubbish, then pocket the profit.
Work to clear the Kidlington site began earlier this month after concerns were raised about the risk of fire and the impact on the nearby A road. A private waste clearance company has been awarded a £9.6 million contract to deal with the waste over the next year.
Emma Viner, enforcement and investigations manager for the Environment Agency’s national environmental crime unit, told the BBC that the agency would look to recover the clean up costs under the Proceeds of Crime Act if anyone is prosecuted at the end of the investigation.
She said: “The illegal dump at Kidlington was an atrocious and deliberate attack on our environment and the Environment Agency shares the community’s anger at this horrific crime.
“The illegal dumping of waste at Kidlington is appalling and has caused significant damage to the environment and distress to the local community.
“The government is committed to stamping out this type of criminality across the country, by boosting funds to tackle waste crime, hiring more officers and introducing tougher checks and penalties for those who break the law.”
The latest arrests were carried out by officers from the South East Regional Organised Crime Unit and follow the arrest of a 39 year old man from Surrey in November, who was later released pending further investigation.
The issue also gained political attention last year when Liberal Democrat MP Calum Miller raised it in Parliament. He told MPs: “Criminals have dumped a mountain of illegal plastic waste… weighing hundreds of tonnes, in my constituency on a floodplain adjacent to the River Cherwell.
“River levels are rising and heatmaps show that the waste is also heating up, raising the risk of fire.
“The Environment Agency said it has limited resources for enforcement, that the estimated cost of removal is greater than the entire annual budget of the local district council.”
In response, environment minister Mary Creagh said Labour had inherited a “failing” waste system that has led to an “epidemic of illegal fly tipping”.