A man has been arrested as part of the investigation into illegal tipping of waste at a site near the River Cherwell in Oxfordshire, the Environment Agency (EA) said.
The dumping of a 150-metre long mountain of waste in a field alongside the A34 in Kidlington, raising risks of pollution into the nearby river, provoked widespread outrage and has been declared a “critical incident” by the EA.
The EA said co-operation between officers from its major investigation team and the South East Regional Organised Crime Unit led to the arrest of a 39-year-old man from the Guildford area on Tuesday.
The EA found significant amounts of what is thought to be household and commercial waste including shredded paper, card and plastic when it first attended the scene in early July, and issued a cease and desist letter to stop further tipping.
When officers became aware of more dumping in October, the EA applied for and secured a court order to close down the site, and has been taking action to prevent pollution from the waste pile and investigate the illegal activity.
The EA has previously said it is “laser focused” on investigating the illegal waste site and those responsible, while Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer said he was “appalled” by the scene and the regulator should use all its powers to get on with the clean-up as fast as possible.
Following the arrest, Anna Burns, the EA’s area director for the Thames, said: “The appalling illegal waste dump in Kidlington has rightly provoked outrage over the potential consequences for the community and environment.
“We have been working round the clock with the South East Regional Organised Crime Unit to bring the perpetrators to justice and make them pay for this offence.”
She added that “our investigative efforts have secured an arrest today”.
Phil Davies, head of the Joint Unit for Waste Crime, said: “The Environment Agency is working closely with other law enforcement partners to identify and hold those responsible for the horrendous illegal dumping of waste that has taken place in Kidlington.
“A number of active lines of investigation are being pursued by specialist officers.
“We would ask that the public and media do not speculate about the identity of any other individuals who may be connected with the offending at this location, or interfere with the waste on site as we continue to treat it as an active crime scene.”
Amid concerns pollution from the tip could spill into the nearby River Cherwell, the EA has been monitoring the site and staff have put a boom in place to try to prevent that happening.
On Tuesday the EA said teams have agreed a plan for deploying additional protective barriers, and were installing large sandbags between the waste pile and the river this week to act as extra protection.
The site is also being secured with Heras fencing to prevent entry to what is an active crime scene, the EA said.
