Work on site is nearing completion

The piles of waste, up to 10m high, that were illegally dumped by unscrupulous criminals have now been cleared from the northern and southern sections of the site, and what remains to be disposed of is stockpiled within the site boundaries ready for collection.

Almost 17,000 tonnes have been sent to permitted waste management facilities, and the remainder will be collected and disposed of over the coming weeks.

This waste has blighted local communities and the environment, so we have been working at pace with over 700 lorry loads of waste leaving the site since we began clearance in April. We are now focusing efforts on clearing the site boundaries and peripheries. When this has been completed, we will dig trial pits and carry out ‘walk over’ inspections to identify any further pockets of buried waste that may need to be removed.

In July we hope to begin reinstatement works. This includes inspections by our partners National Highways, to ensure their boundary that runs alongside the A34, the fencing and drainage ditches are all still fit for purpose. We will remove the Heras fencing and jumbo sandbags that were installed to protect the River Cherwell from pollution and decommission the site compound removing the staff welfare facilities, aggregate and access track.

The aggregate that formed the underlay of our site compound and the contents of the jumbo sandbags will be sent for cleaning rather than disposal, allowing re-use in the future.

The southern section now it has been cleared

Facing south - barrier protecting waste from entering the River Cherwell in the background

Facing north