Environment Agency: Kidlington Illegal Waste Site Cleared After Crackdown

We use some essential cookies to make this website work. We’d like to set additional cookies to understand how you use GOV.UK, remember your settings and improve government services. We also use cookies set by other sites to help us deliver content from their services. You have accepted additional cookies. You can change your cookie settings at any time. You have rejected additional cookies. You can change your cookie settings at any time. More than 22,000 tonnes of illegally dumped waste have now been removed from Oxfordshire site Residents in Kidlington will no longer have to live alongside one of the country’s most notorious illegal waste sites, after a major government-backed operation has seen the site fully cleared. The illegal waste site, that was larger than the pitch at Wembley Stadium, sat on land near the A34 and was shut down by officers in October 2025, after criminals were found to have dumped waste there. Announced today (Thursday 27 August 2026) by the Environment Agency, the clean-up operation has seen an estimated 22,105 tonnes of commercial and household waste, including tyres, shredded plastic, and household rubbish, fully dug up and removed from the site. Concrete blocks have also now been placed at the entrance preventing access, with the main gate now securely padlocked. Under the Prime Minister’s crackdown on waste crime, the government and Environment Agency are working together to ensure serious, organised criminal gangs have nowhere to hide. The government has also committed to cleaning up some of the country’s most egregious illegal waste sites, including Bolton House Road in Wigan and Midland Road in Bradford. These sites were prioritised on scale, risk to nearby communities, environmental damage, and links to persistent non-compliance and organised waste crime. Greater use of drones, a bigger role for Mayors and the police, more EA officers on the frontline, and a dramatic rise in fines will deter and punish those who dump illegally. Alongside this, a new Waste Crime Crackdown Group, chaired by Environment Secretary Angela Eagle, will bring regulators and law enforcement together to dismantle criminal operations and deliver results. Communities deserves to be free from the blight of illegal waste dumping, and this clean-up shows we will bring hope back to local residents. After years of waste crime being allowed to fester, we are taking decisive action through our crackdown, and cleaning up sites like Kidlington is just one part. By putting more officers on the frontline and using drones to catch offenders in the act, we’re putting the criminal gangs on notice that there is nowhere left to hide. We are very pleased that the clearance of this site has now been completed, and the EA has made a number of arrests as we pursue those responsible for this abhorrent offending. Dumping like this needs to be stopped in the first place. To do that we are going upstream, removing criminals and corruption from the waste system; improving the exchange of intelligence between agencies, and revoking the permits of those who do not take adequate care. During our Operation Unite, we revoked or suspended 17 permits and we have further operations planned throughout the Autumn, making use of new powers and resources the government has provided. The Environment Agency continues to progress its criminal investigation into the illegal dumping of waste at Kidlington. Four people have already been arrested, which is a vital step towards securing justice for the local community. As part of the Prime Minister’s crackdown, the government is also giving the Environment Agency stronger powers to tackle waste crime. Rogue actors who dump waste illegally or fail to treat it correctly set to face fines of up to £5,000, up from the current maximum of £300. Those responsible for serious offences can already face much tougher sanctions, including prosecution and imprisonment. This government will ensure that criminals pay for their a