Drone footage has shown hundreds of tonnes of “recalcitrant” illegal rubbish being blown into a field next to the River Cherwell near Kidlington in Oxfordshire.
Sky News video shows the pile of rubbish, which is at least 60 meters long, 15 meters wide and 10 meters high and weighs hundreds of tonnes.
Callum Miller, Liberal Democrat MP for Bicester and Woodstock, told Sky News it was the first time he had seen something on this scale, questioning whether the Environment Agency had the resources to deal with it.
Callum Miller, Liberal Democrat MP for Bicester and Woodstock
The cost of removing the waste is estimated to exceed the entire annual budget of the local council, amounting to around £25 million.
With the site on a flood plain, Mr Miller listed three major environmental risks – waste flowing into waterways, rain seeping through waste and carrying toxins into the water and the risk of chemicals decomposing which poses a fire risk.
Image: Sky News
He said police used a helicopter with a heat-seeking camera and noticed that some of the garbage had actually begun to decompose.
The site is close to the A34, a busy road passing through cities including Oxford and Birmingham.
Mr Miller said he believed the Environment Agency was first made aware of the issue in July.
He said he believed it was the work of “organized criminal gangs” and that it had created “a huge systemic problem across the country”, with “dumps popping up in more and more places”.
He added: “My concern is that the Environment Agency lacks the resources to deal with criminal activity on this scale. I am calling on the Government to take action and ensure that those who are dealing with such incidents have the necessary powers to deal with it at the source.”
Friends of Thames chief executive Laura Reinecke told Sky News they learned of the dumping site about 10 days ago, calling it “the biggest ecological disaster to have happened on an inland waterway in this country”.
The head of a charity dedicated to protecting, restoring and celebrating the River Thames said the fact that the area was extensively prepared with moving vehicles and the waste was “pre-shredded”, then dumped so cleanly, showed that the operation was “very well organised”.
Laura Reineke, Chief Executive Officer of Friends of the Thames
The culprits have not been caught yet.
Ms Reineke added: “The most appalling thing is that the Environment Agency has known about it since September 10 [at the latest]And they haven’t done anything about it.”
Image: Sky News
He also questioned the Environment Agency’s management of the situation, calling it “a story of complete incompetence”.
Ms Reineke called the delay a “death sentence for the River Cherwell and the wider Thames catchment”, labeling it “ecocide on an epic scale”.
He added, “This dump is not only a disaster for the freshwater species in our waterways, but it is also a public health issue. We don’t know what these chemicals are, they should have been tested.”
Image: Sky News
The Environment Agency told Sky News it has obtained a court order to close the site to all public access for at least six months.
A spokesperson said: “Specialist officers are investigating waste dumped near the A34 in Kidlington. Their role will be to find out who left the waste there and appropriate action will be taken.”
“We share the public’s anger about incidents like this, which is why we take action against those responsible for waste crime,” anyone with information is asked to call their 24-hour incident hotline.
This summer, Sky News produced a Special report on the growing problem of waste crimeAfter which a report came in October Illegal dump in Wigan,
In a report released last month, the Lords Environment and Climate Change Committee warned that organized crime gangs are illegally dumping millions of tonnes of waste across the country every year.
The Committee identified the inefficiency of the Environment Agency as a factor in the growing crisis.
Philip Duffy, the agency’s chief executive, hit back, saying, “I think it is deeply unfair of my hard-working employees to be accused of incompetence.”