A fourth person has been arrested in connection with an investigation into a massive illegal waste site.
A 52-year-old man from Ashford, Surrey was arrested on Monday as part of the ongoing Environment Agency (EA) investigation, supported by the South East Regional Organised Crime Unit, into the dump in Kidlington, Oxfordshire.
The mountain of waste, declared a “critical incident” by the EA, is situated on a site between the River Cherwell and the A34, a busy road running through Oxford towards Birmingham and Manchester. It is 150m long, 15m wide and 10m high.
Emma Viner, enforcement and investigations manager in the Environment Agency’s National Environmental Crime Unit, said: “The horrific dumping at Kidlington was a deliberate and organised act with no regard for the impact on the environment or communities.
“Our teams continue to work tirelessly with the South East Regional Organised Crime Unit on this investigation. This further arrest will be key in collecting new evidence and delivering justice for local residents.”
Last week, two men – a 69-year-old in Andover and a 54-year-old in Slough – were arrested for alleged environmental and money laundering offences. Both men were released on conditional bail.
A 39-year-old man from the Guildford area was previously arrested in November in connection with the dump. He was released pending further enquiries.
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The dumping is believed to have started last summer, with a Sky News investigation finding how the grassy field transformed into an illegal waste site in only a few months.
Environment Secretary Emma Reynolds called the dumping “completely and utterly unacceptable”.
Ms Reynolds said: “This most recent arrest is an important step toward justice, and we will continue to pursue all waste criminals until this illegal behaviour is stamped out.
“We’re strengthening our fight against waste crime by increasing enforcement funding, deploying more officers, and imposing tougher checks and penalties for offenders.”
Sky News has been investigating how, across the country, waste crime is a growing scourge and a booming business being exploited by criminal gangs.
Being paid to remove rubbish only to dump it illegally without sorting it or paying tax is an easy way of making huge amounts of money, with poorly-enforced legal repercussions and a huge cost to the environment.
It is something the previous head of the Environment Agency called “the new narcotics”.
– It is thought a fifth of all waste in England is being illegally managed
– That is around 34 million tonnes a year, enough to fill about four million skips
– It costs the economy around a billion pounds a year, with legitimate operators thought to be losing a further £3bn from missed business
Last July, we tracked down a group of suspected organised fly-tippers who waved wads of cash on TikTok after dumping waste in the countryside.
The Environment Agency has committed more than £9m to clear the waste at the site – to the anger of people living metres away from a 25,000-tonne site in Wigan.
In October, the House of Lords Environment and Climate Change Committee warned that organised crime gangs are illegally dumping millions of tonnes of waste across the countryside every year.
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Sky News has been investigating the growing problem of waste crime for the last year, which has been dubbed the “new narcotics”.
It costs the UK an estimated £1bn a year – but authorities have struggled to tackle the issue and prosecute those involved.
