🔗 Share this article

Two individuals have been detained as part of an probe into the dumping of many thousands of tonnes of refuse in a open field in Oxfordshire.

Officials stated that a man in his late sixties was apprehended at a dwelling in Hampshire's Andover, while a 54-year-old was taken into custody in Slough in relation with the huge pile of rubbish dumped near Kidlington.

These detentions occur a week after a previous report which revealed the operation of over 500 unlawful sites in England, encompassing at a minimum of 11 so-called "super sites" larger than 20,000 tons.

A official for the regulatory authorities said that the apprehensions were for ecological and financial crimes and represented a "vital step" in active investigations. The two individuals have been released on bail.

Scale of the Problem

The illegal site in Kidlington, situated between the river Cherwell and the A34 road, is estimated to house approximately 21,000 tonnes of rubbish in a pile which is up to 150m (490ft) long and 6m (20ft) tall.

This mound of waste is composed of what looks to be treated domestic rubbish, fragmented plastic materials, polystyrene, tires and assorted domestic objects.

It is just a single of 517 illegal tips across the country, at least 11 of which are estimated to hold in excess of 20,000 tonnes of rubbish. These feature a 280,000-tonne site in the county of Cheshire, two 50,000-tonne locations in Lancashire county and Cornwall and a 36,000-tonne dump in Kent.

The overall amount of such major dumps is probably to be higher, as the regulatory body has earlier stated it does not possess records on tonnage for all illegal site.

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

Criminal Operations

Law enforcement state many are managed by criminal organizations, who are making money by demanding far less than lawful operators to accept and dispose of garbage.

Companies have to incur disposal fees to use licensed disposal sites, depending on the volume and type of waste they are trying to dispose of, and a disposal levy is also charged at just over £126 per ton.

Public Frustration

Initial work to remove the Kidlington area location began recently due to fears over the risk of blaze and the consequences that would have on the adjacent major road.

A private waste removal company has been awarded the job to handle the location over the coming 12 months at a price of £9.6m.

An investigations official for the country's regulatory unit commented that the body would be looking to recoup the remediation expenses under confiscation legislation from any party ultimately found guilty at the end of its active inquiry.

She noted that this week's arrests would help "drive the investigation forward" and enable officials to "investigate more lines of inquiry to determine in detail what happened and who was involved".

"The unlawful dump at this location was an atrocious and calculated attack on our environment and officials understand the community's anger at this horrific crime," she stated.

A government official supported the arrests, stating: "This illegal dumping of garbage at the site is utterly appalling and has resulted in substantial detriment to the ecology and upset to the nearby community.

"The administration is pledged to eliminating this type of crime across the nation, by increasing financing to tackle environmental crime, recruiting more officers and introducing more severe checks and fines for those who violate the law."

The arrests were executed on a recent Thursday by officers from a regional crime team and follow an prior apprehension of a 39-year-old from the Guildford area region in the autumn. He was let go pending additional enquiries.