PM condemns 'appalling' illegal rubbish heap

Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer has said "all available powers" would be used to make those responsible for a mountain of fly-tipped waste pay for the clean-up.

The heap is up to 150m (490ft) long and 6m (20ft) high and has appeared on a field between the River Cherwell and the A34 near Kidlington in Oxfordshire.

Starmer made the comments during Prime Minister's Questions after Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey asked if the Environment Agency (EA) would be instructed to clean it up.

The Environment Agency said at this stage it could not "commit to a timeline for when the waste will be cleared".

In a post on its website it also said it was "reviewing options for site clearance" but "this is not a quick process".

It comes as the landowner of a site next to the huge heap of waste said he saw truckloads of rubbish dumped there every night for months.

Fly-tippers are thought to have been building up the mound of waste since the summer.

The rubbish itself is made up of what appears to be processed domestic waste, shredded plastics, polystyrene, tyres, and other household items.

Speaking in Parliament, Davey said: "The water is now lapping against the waste and carrying it into the river.

"Organised criminal gangs are illegally dumping their waste onto our countryside and getting away with it.

"This is a shocking environmental emergency."

Starmer replied: "Firstly, these are utterly appalling scenes.

"A criminal investigation - as he knows - is under way and specialist officers are tracking down those responsible.

"The Environmental Agency... will use all available powers to make sure that the perpetrators cover the cost of the clean-up, which must now follow."

Anna Burns, area director for The Thames EA, said she felt "confident that we acted quickly but most important we acted lawfully".

"Most of the dumping at this site took place before we came to this site in July," she said.

"The majority of the tipping happened before we arrived.

"We continue to visit the site and as soon as we became aware that there was further activity going on, we applied to the court for a restriction order which stopped access to this site."

The EA said since the court order had been granted on 23 October, no further waste had been dumped. 

It added that work was being done with partners across the local area "to mitigate the safety risks around fire and flooding".

Kidlington county councillor Laura Gordon called on the government to release funds and authorise the EA to clean up the field "as soon as possible".

"If we're able to recover some of those funds later, if the perpetrator is eventually identified, that would be brilliant but the priority has to be on cleaning it up now," she said.

"We can't leave it there over winter with the site at risk of flooding and just waiting for the legal process to continue - that obviously has to happen in parallel.

"I'd really want to see the people who did this held accountable but I really don't think we can wait to get the site cleared up until that happens."

Gordon added that authorities had visited the site back in early July, and she wanted to know more about why the clean up had not yet begun.

Ch Supt Ben Clark, from Thames Valley Police, said: "We are actively working with our partners to address the safety risks posed by the illegal dump to protect the public should there be any danger to the local community and surrounding road network."

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