🔗 Share this article

Two men have been taken into custody as an element of an investigation into the illegal deposit of many thousands of metric tons of refuse in a field in Oxfordshire.

Officials reported that a man in his late sixties was arrested at a property in Andover, Hampshire, while a 54-year-old was detained in the town of Slough in association with the huge mound of rubbish tipped near Kidlington.

These arrests follow a prior report which exposed the existence of more than 500 unauthorized sites across England, encompassing at minimum 11 so-called "super sites" greater than 20,000 tonnes.

A official for the environment authorities said that the arrests were for environmental and proceeds of crime offences and represented a "vital step" in ongoing inquiries. Both men have been released on bail.

Scale of the Problem

The dump in the Kidlington area, positioned between the river Cherwell and the A34 road, is thought to hold about 21,000 tons of rubbish in a pile which is up to 150m (490ft) long and 6m (20ft) high.

This pile of waste is composed of what looks to be sorted domestic rubbish, chopped up plastics, Styrofoam, tires and other everyday items.

It is just one example of 517 illegal dumps across England, at a minimum of 11 of which contain in excess of 20,000 tons of garbage. These feature a 280,000-tonne site in the county of Cheshire, two 50,000-tonne sites in Lancashire and Cornwall and a 36,000-tonne dump in Kent.

The total amount of such larger sites is expected to be larger, as the environmental authority has earlier acknowledged it does not hold information on volume for each unlawful site.

Most such locations are in countryside areas, typically out of sight, and on land that is zoned as arable ground.

Criminal Enterprise

Police report a significant number are run by organized crime groups, who are generating profit by demanding much less than licensed companies to accept and dispose of rubbish.

Firms have to pay site fees to use licensed waste facilities, based on the volume and nature of refuse they are trying to discard, and landfill tax is also applied at just over £126 per tonne.

Community Anger

Initial efforts to clean up the Kidlington dump started earlier this month due to fears over the risk of fire and the consequences that would have on the adjacent highway.

A commercial waste removal firm has been awarded the job to remediate the site over the coming 12 months period at a price of £9.6m.

An enforcement officer for the national environment team commented that the authority would be seeking to recover the remediation expenses under proceeds of crime legislation from any individual ultimately found guilty at the conclusion of its active inquiry.

She added that this week's arrests would help "drive the probe forward" and permit officials to "investigate more lines of inquiry to understand precisely what occurred and who was implicated".

"The illegal tip at Kidlington was an atrocious and intentional affront on our natural surroundings and we empathize with the local outrage at this terrible crime," she remarked.

A cabinet representative praised the detentions, commenting: "This illegal tipping of rubbish at the site is disgraceful and has caused significant damage to the natural world and distress to the surrounding residents.

"The authorities is dedicated to eradicating this kind of criminality across the UK, by increasing financing to address illegal dumping, hiring more personnel and implementing tougher checks and penalties for those who flout the rules."

The apprehensions were made on the specified day by officers from a regional serious crime squad and come after an prior apprehension of a 39-year-old from the Guildford area in last November. He was set free subject to additional inquiries.