An elected member has blamed officials for failing to intervene until Natural England stepped in, condemning the handling of an unlawful refuse accumulation.
An Oxfordshire County Council assessment has confirmed that dumping activities at an 8,000 square meter waste mound beside the A34 and River Cherwell near Kidlington continued throughout summer 2025 despite enforcement efforts having started.
At a review panel meeting on Wednesday, April 22, those present voiced anger over poor coordination and hold-ups after an assessment carried out in July 2025 uncovered that lorries were continuing to dump refuse illegally in what appears to be an organised criminal scheme.
Councillor Liam Walker for Hanborough & Hailey (Oxfordshire Alliance and Conservative Party) commented that no moves were made to stop the lorries coming in. He questioned why monitoring equipment was not installed and why law enforcement was not informed.
Robin Rogers, the county council’s head of economy and place, explained that the bulk of refuse was already there before the location was pinpointed, and Natural England took over legal action straight after the July assessment. He admitted that the institutional response was not adequate, because the waste building up was not stopped at the start, which is why an examination is needed. He stated that they were definitely not doing nothing during July and August.
Councillor Laura Gordon for Kidlington North & Otmoor (Liberal Democrat) was among the initial local representatives to learn of the dumping—other elected figures stayed unaware until news reports spread widely. She noted that the council became involved in October but took too long to get there.
Mr. Rogers accepted that the council had treated the location as standard work, since it routinely deals with unlawful tipping, and admitted they neglected to step back and see how big this really was. He promised that lessons would be learned from what happened.
Clearance work is underway and set to finish by December.
In July 2025, Natural England served a prohibition notice to halt activities on the land.
In October of that year, the agency obtained a prohibition order restricting entry after an assessment in early September uncovered newly dumped refuse.
Four people have now been arrested in relation to the location. No charges have been filed.
Natural England did not attend the review panel, referring to the active pre-election period.
Earlier, Anna Burns, Natural England’s Thames regional director, said they are focused on swift waste clearance while pursuing their investigation to ensure those responsible face consequences.