Two men arrested in connection with huge illegal rubbish dump in Oxfordshire
Two men have been arrested as part of an ongoing investigation into large-scale, illegal waste dumping in Oxfordshire.
The Environment Agency (EA) said a 69-year-old man was arrested at a property in Andover, while a 54-year-old man was arrested in Slough.
The EA said they were both arrested on suspicion of environmental and money laundering offenses in connection with the huge pile of rubbish dumped near Kidlington. They were released on conditional bail pending further investigation.
The arrests follow the arrest of a 39-year-old man from the Guildford area in November as part of the same investigation.
The mound, located between the River Cherwell and the A34, is 150 meters long and is believed to contain around 20,000 tonnes of waste. This led to fears about pollution in the nearby river.
Commenting on the arrests, Emma Viner, director of enforcement and investigations at the EA’s national environmental crime unit, said: “The illegal dumping in Kidlington was a brutal and deliberate attack on our environment and the EA shares the community’s outrage at this appalling crime.
“Our teams have been working tirelessly with the South East regional organized crime unit on this investigation. These joint efforts have resulted in the collection of new evidence and further arrests, which is another vital step in progressing our investigation.”
In December, the EA said planning work to clear the illegal site had begun and waste cleanup services were planned for the end of February.
Environment Minister Emma Reynolds said: “The illegal dumping of waste in Kidlington is appalling and has caused serious damage to the environment and distress to the local community.
“I welcome these arrests; they are an important step in achieving justice for local people.
“The government is committed to stamping out such crime across the country by increasing funding to tackle waste crime, hiring more officers and introducing tougher controls and penalties for those who break the law.”
The BBC reported that more than 700 illegal dumps were closed in 2024-2025, many of which were hidden in rural areas that were supposed to be farmland.
Waste crime is an increasingly significant problem in the UK, with high-profile illegal dumps sparking widespread outrage in recent months.
The dump at Kidlington is among hundreds reportedly still detected in EA data.
Some 517 waste collection centres, including 11 “super sites”, were in operation at the end of last year, according to figures obtained by the BBC under freedom of information laws.
