Businesses meet to progress investigation into dumping at Kidlington website

The Environment Agency has immediately (Wednesday 19 November) convened native companions as a serious investigation into unlawful tipping at a website in Kidlington continues.  

Meeting with companies from throughout Oxfordshire, together with Oxfordshire County Council, Thames Valley Police and National Highways, the Environment Agency supplied an replace on the joint efforts to guard the native surroundings and handle security considerations from the local people. This comes because the Agency continues to discover a number of traces of inquiry to carry these accountable to justice. 

All companions stay dedicated to defending the local people and surroundings via co-ordinated motion.

This investigation is being led by the Agency’s National Enforcement Crime Unit, which is staffed by extremely expert waste crime investigators. Specialist officers additionally stay on the bottom to watch the location and guarantee the local people and surroundings are protected against hurt.  

Following the primary report of waste being tipped in Kidlington, the Environment Agency responded instantly with officers attending the location on 2 July. EA officers then rapidly recognized the landowner and issued them with a cease-and-desist letter to make sure additional tipping was prevented.  

After officers turned conscious of continued legal exercise on website in October, a court docket order was sought and granted to shut the location. Since this was granted on 23 October, no additional tipping has taken place. For each security causes and since the location is now a reside crime scene, members of the general public ought to keep away from getting into the location.

Anna Burns, Environment Agency’s Area Director for The Thames, mentioned:

I share the general public’s full disgust at this stunning case of environmental crime.  

We took fast motion to cease the unlawful tipping in Kidlington, and dealing with companions throughout Oxfordshire, we’re searching down these accountable to ship justice for the local people. 

We have a number of traces of inquiry we’re pursuing, and I urge the general public to contact the police or the Environment Agency with any info.

Thames Valley Police Chief Superintendent Ben Clark mentioned:

The Environment Agency is accountable for investigating and prosecuting offences associated to environmental crime reminiscent of this, and we’ll proceed to help them to find and prosecuting whoever has accomplished this. We are actively working with our companions to deal with the protection dangers posed by the unlawful dump to guard the general public ought to there be any hazard to the local people and surrounding street community.

Councillor Judy Roberts, Oxfordshire County Council’s Cabinet Member for Place, Environment and Climate Action, mentioned:

Along with our companions, we’ve been coping with this terrible environmental crime for a number of months. An incident of this scale has clearly precipitated appreciable issues for all events concerned.

With winter coming, we’re persevering with to work urgently work with the Environment Agency, Cherwell District Council, and National Highways within the shorter time period with a purpose to facilitate mitigation and environmental safety measures, particularly for the River Cherwell.

Pete Martin, Director of Customer Experience at National Highways, mentioned:

Illegal waste dumping is totally unacceptable. It poses a severe threat to each the environment and the protection of the roads that communities depend on day-after-day.

We are supporting the Environment Agency of their investigation and can do every part we are able to to help in making certain these accountable are held to account.

The Environment Agency continues to evaluate any dangers to nature and the potential environmental influence of the waste on native air high quality and water high quality. Monitoring of water run-off from the location stays in place and being carried out at particular places on the River Cherwell.  Work can also be being accomplished with companions throughout the native space to mitigate the protection dangers round hearth and flooding.

Information from the general public is significant in progressing the investigation into this unlawful tipping and making certain these accountable are held to account. The Environment Agency urges anybody with info to name its 24-hour incident hotline on 0800 807 060.