Matthew Barber, police and crime commissioner for the Thames Valley, said there’s ‘no excuse’ for illegal fly-tipping after discovering a large amount of household waste in the Vale of White Horse district.

However, the commissioner said the situation of waste dumping in the county “isn’t helped” by the county council putting “obstacles” in the way of using legitimate waste disposal centres.

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In a statement, Mr Barber said: “More waste dumped at the side of the road in Oxfordshire.

Matthew Barber (Image: Contributed)

“There’s no excuse for this behaviour but it certainly isn’t helped by Oxfordshire County Council having put more obstacles in the way of residents wanting to legitimately dispose of their waste at our recycling centres.”

Oxfordshire County Council introduced changes at the seven recycling centres it runs across the county from January this year, with a new scheme requiring online booking and for everyone attending a centre to have a form of ID or proof of address.

Household Waste Recycling Centre at Redbridge (Image: Ed Nix)

The number of permitted trips to a recycling centre was reduced from 12 to 10 per year, and anyone from outside the county now has to pay £15 to dispose of waste.

At the time, the scheme was met with some opposition, and fears that it would result in an increase in waste and environmental crime.

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Witney councillor Thomas Ashby earlier said: “In all seriousness, it’s completely nuts, and I do hope, that in time, the Council does reconsider as other councils have done elsewhere.

“I imagine we will sadly see an increase in fly-tipping.”

A spokesperson for Oxfordshire County Council said: “Booking systems are commonplace in other local authorities, including Oxfordshire’s neighbours, and have been in place for quite a while.

Waste recycling centre (Image: David Fleming)

“Their experiences have shown this does not lead to a rise in fly-tipping and, so far, there has not been an increase observed in Oxfordshire as the vast majority of residents are law abiding and will dispose of their waste responsibly. We will continue to monitor the situation.

“It only takes two minutes to make a booking online, and can be done by telephone if the user doesn’t have internet access.

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“Bookings are available up to two weeks in advance or 30 minutes prior, subject to availability.”

 The council added that reasons for introducing the booking system included improving traffic management and reducing queueing at the sites.

It is also intended to increase recycling rates, prevent trade waste and ensure non-Oxfordshire residents pay to use the facilities, as well as accommodate for the temporary closure of Redbridge recycling centre later this year.