🔗 Share this article

A pair of individuals have been detained as an element of an probe into the illegal deposit of several thousand of tons of rubbish in a rural field in the county of Oxfordshire.

Law enforcement stated that a 69-year-old was arrested at a dwelling in Andover, Hampshire, while a man in his fifties was detained in Slough in association with the massive heap of waste tipped near Kidlington.

These detentions follow a prior revelation which uncovered the existence of over 500 illegal dumps across England, encompassing at a minimum of 11 so-called "major sites" greater than 20,000 tons.

A official for the environment authorities commented that the arrests were for environment-related and proceeds of crime violations and were a "key step" in ongoing inquiries. Both men have been released on conditional release.

Size of the Problem

The dump in near Kidlington, located between the Cherwell River and the A34 road, is thought to hold about 21,000 tonnes of refuse in a pile which is up to 150m (490ft) in length and 6m (20ft) tall.

This pile of rubbish is consists of what appears to be sorted domestic refuse, shredded plastic items, expanded polystyrene, automobile tires and other domestic objects.

It constitutes just one example of 517 unauthorized dumps in the country, at minimum 11 of which contain in excess of 20,000 tonnes of rubbish. Such sites feature a 280,000-tonne area in Cheshire, two 50,000-tonne areas in Lancashire and Cornwall and a 36,000-tonne tip in the county of Kent.

The total figure of such bigger sites is probably to be higher, as the regulatory authority has in the past acknowledged it does not possess records on tonnage for each illegal tip.

The majority these sites are in agricultural locations, frequently concealed, and on land that is intended to be agricultural land.

Criminal Operations

Police report numerous are managed by organized crime groups, who are earning cash by asking for far less than licensed operators to receive and dispose of garbage.

Businesses have to be liable for gate fees to use legitimate landfill sites, depending on the volume and nature of refuse they are trying to discard, and landfill tax is also charged at just over £126 per ton.

Community Anger

Preparatory operations to remove the Kidlington location commenced in recent weeks due to fears over the threat of blaze and the impact that would have on the adjacent major road.

A commercial waste removal firm has been awarded the job to deal with the area over the next 12 months at a cost of £9.6m.

An investigations official for the national regulatory division commented that the body would be aiming to recover the remediation expenses under confiscation acts from any party ultimately prosecuted at the end of its active case.

She further stated that these arrests would help "drive the probe forward" and allow officials to "investigate more avenues to determine precisely what occurred and who was implicated".

"The illegal tip at the site was an atrocious and intentional attack on our ecology and the authorities understand the community's anger at this horrific offence," she said.

A government representative supported the detentions, adding: "The unauthorized tipping of rubbish at the site is utterly appalling and has resulted in significant damage to the environment and anguish to the surrounding population.

"The administration is pledged to eradicating this kind of crime in the UK, by augmenting resources to address illegal dumping, recruiting more personnel and introducing tougher checks and sanctions for those who violate the law."

The apprehensions were executed on Thursday by officers from a regional serious crime squad and come after an previous apprehension of a man in his thirties from the Guildford area in November. He was let go awaiting more enquiries.