Illegal waste site near Kidlington

There has been a total of 4 arrests made in connection with the ongoing investigation. An individual was arrested on 25 November 2025, a further two men were arrested on 30 January 2026 and the fourth arrest was made on the 2 February. The four men remain part of the criminal investigation. For more detail visit:

https://www.gov.uk/government/news/kidlington-further-arrest-made-for-illegal-waste-dumping  

The Environment Agency’s investigation is being led by its National Environmental Crime Unit, which is seeking to find those responsible for the offending, hold them to account and deliver justice for the local community.

Advice from the Fire and Rescue Services indicated the increased possibility of a fire on site. This could have widespread impacts on the community, including closing the A34 major highway, raising air quality issues from the smoke, and interrupting electrical supplies. The scale of this fire risk sets this case apart from other illegal waste dumps in England and presents an overriding public imperative.  

An exceptional decision was made to progress works to entirely clear the site of waste. We expect to fund the clearance efforts through making efficiencies in its operations, without impacting or scaling back any other services. 

The Environment Agency is not legally responsible for clearing illegal waste and is not funded to do so. While the organisation continues to support the principle that the criminals responsible should cover the costs of clearance, it retains the power to act in wholly exceptional circumstances.  

In clearing the site, we will ensure this vast amount of waste is handled correctly, moved to the right facilities and is done so without causing further damage to the environment. We expect the clearance operation to last approximately 6 months, with the land being reinstated at the end of summer 2026. 

Further information can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/news/clearance-work-to-begin-at-kidlington-waste-dump   

We're working closely with our partners to tackle this incident head-on. Multi-agency coordination is essential in situations like this, and the Environment Agency is overseeing the joint response. We have been working together on the response and on 19 November we convened a multi-agency group which included Oxfordshire County Council, Cherwell District Council, Thames Valley Police, Fire and Rescue service and National Highways. This ensures a unified approach to protecting the local environment and addressing community concerns. 

The group has now transitioned to a Recovery Co-ordination Group who will continue to work closely together to ensure the waste removal is well co-ordinated.

The Environment Agency decided to directly award the waste removal contract to Acumen Waste Services Limited at the illegal waste site in Kidlington. Acumen have significant experience of this work and have worked with the Environment Agency at Hoads Wood in Kent. 

The supplier is providing a full end-to-end waste management service, including site preparation, waste characterisation, segregation, safe handling, loading, transport, and disposal at appropriately permitted facilities. For full details please visit the contract transparency notice on Kidlington Waste Clearance - Find a Tende. 

We are working in partnership with the Oxfordshire Fire and rescue service (FRS) to manage and understand fire risk. 

We have installed temperature probes into the waste.  The probes provide live information. Monitoring is showing the waste temperature to be stable and is not reaching trigger points for response actions.  

We completed construction of a barrier on 28 November. The barrier is formed of jumbo sandbags between the waste and the river and 150 m of fencing. While the risk of the waste entering the river is very low, the barrier has been installed as a precaution to protect the environment and prevent unauthorised access to the active crime scene. 

Pits have been excavated at different depths to get a cross section of the waste materials. We used this sampling to ensure waste can be removed safely and sent to the appropriate legal waste disposal facilities.

We have created a raised track for heavy vehicle access. This improved saturated ground conditions and ensured waste clearance could begin following prolonged wet weather in January and February 2026. 

We have installed cabins to ensure necessary welfare and safety for site operatives. 

We installed fencing and placed more bulk sandbags to prevent surface water from the drainage ditch entering the site.

In early January 2026 Oxfordshire County Council Tree Service began work to prepare the site entrance for waste removal. The work involved removing 7 small trees from the entrance to the site. A few additional trees were then removed once the contractor had assessed the site entrance.  

This work was needed to ensure the safety of those entering and leaving the site. It was carried out to avoid the bird nesting season, and to ensure that restrictions to protect nesting birds do not cause delays once the waste removal begins. 

While we aim to avoid removing trees wherever possible, it is needed here, to create safe, clear vision for slow moving vehicles leaving the site and joining traffic once the official removal of waste begins. 

Further vegetation will need removing from site. The trees and shrubs to be removed are likely to have been affected by the waste, for example the waste may be stopping water and nutrients from getting to the roots, or they may have absorbed pollutants. 

Most trees are young and Oxfordshire County Council have checked for any Tree Preservation Orders. We will pollard any willows to give them the opportunity to recover naturally. 

The contractor, working with partners from Oxfordshire County Council, has put into place a traffic management plan to minimise disruption to local road users. There are reduced speed limits and 2 sets of traffic lights. The lights are used during site operational hours and only turned to red to stop traffic when there is a lorry movement giving safe access to and from site. 

We have installed 'rumble grids' which will remove mud and shake out debris from the tyres of vehicles as they leave the site.  This will prevent mess being carried out onto public roads.

We have deodorisers on site to help mask the inevitable odour from the waste.  As we dig deeper to remove the waste, this may become more noticeable.  If you wish to report odour from the site, contact Cherwell District Council, where you can make your report on their website here (When completing the details please use the post code OX52JJ and start your description with ‘Kidlington Illegal Waste Site’).

Map showing the approximate location of the flood walls and embankments that reduce flood risk to properties in Kidlington. Image courtesy of Environment Agency.

The waste pile sits within a large area of floodplain, which can store a substantial volume of water during periods of heavy rain.

To check if there is a flood alert or warning for the river in this area please follow the link flood alert for the River Cherwell(External link) .

In January and February 2026, water levels rose on and around the waste site. Our Jumbo sandbags and the Heras Fencing  worked well and is effective at preventing waste from entering the River Cherwell.

In the interests of public safety, Oxfordshire County Council have temporarily closed Footpath 9 [237/9] from the Bicester Road, Gosford, to the East side of the A34, due to the illegal waste deposit. A Temporary Traffic Regulation Order is being made to implement the temporary closure and will operate from 9 December for an estimated duration of 6 months. This is the maximum duration of a Temporary Traffic Regulation Order on a footpath. There is no available diversion route, but emergency services will still be able to access the footpath if required. 

We understand people are concerned about the impacts of this high-risk illegal waste site and are keen to help in any way they can. We share these concerns and are horrified how these criminals have impacted the local environment.  

It is essential that people do not attend the site, as you will be in breach of the restriction order and will be placing yourself and our investigations at risk. As a restricted site, nobody can enter the land without our permission  

Information from members of the public is critical. Please call our free 24-hour incident hotline on 0800 807060 if you have any information related to this incident. You can also report information to Crimestoppers on their website.