BBC finds 500+ illegal waste dumps across England (Full Transcript)

[00:00:00] Speaker 1: There are more than 500 illegal waste dumps operating across England, that's the finding of a BBC investigation. And at least 11 sites contain more than 20,000 tons of waste. Police say many are linked to organised crime. Residents living nearby say more needs to be done to clean them up and protect the environment. Jenny Kumar reports.

[00:00:23] Speaker 2: Dumped by the road. Tons tipped in the woods. Across the country, waste crime is on the rise, with some sites reaching industrial proportions in the countryside.

[00:00:36] Speaker 3: So this is the site here on the right, things have been going on for six or seven years. There have been incidents of spontaneous combustion where material is heated and caught fire. What impact has this had? It's caused smell, there's been smoke, there's been noise. So those really have been the concerns that we've had as local residents.

[00:00:58] Speaker 2: The Environment Agency says it's investigating, but locals feel furious at the lack of change. We contacted the person believed to be using this site, but he declined to comment. The BBC has learned there are more than 500 illegal waste sites operating across England. And at least 11 are massive, containing more than 20,000 tons of waste. For criminals, this is big business. Police. This month, West Mercia police did this raid as part of an investigation into money laundering linked to illegal waste dumping. I'm going to have to arrest you. Two men were arrested and £100,000 in cash was seized. The police insist they're working hard to tackle the gangs involved, but some residents living near this illegal waste site in Worcestershire want the authorities to do more. Why is it that you wanted to do this interview anonymously?

[00:01:53] Speaker 4: Primarily because of the fear of the intimidation. We've had several villagers who have been intimidated. They've had people park outside their house, they've been followed. But the fact that these sites are so big, and there are so many, it just goes to show that the criminals know that the authorities are inadequate, and they know that the penalties are inadequate.

[00:02:16] Speaker 2: The landowner of the site in Worcestershire didn't want to speak to us when we visited, but has previously said the land is rented out. The tenant and operators of the other illegal sites targeted by West Mercia police have failed to respond to the BBC. Here in Kidlington in Oxfordshire, the Environment Agency have announced they're clearing this site because of the fire risk. The cost? Nearly £10 million.

[00:02:41] Speaker 5: It would have been better if the dump had been stopped happening earlier, so that the cost of clear-up was a lot less, and of course the environmental damage wouldn't have happened.

[00:02:50] Speaker 6: We share the public's disgust. Every year we're shutting down hundreds of illegal waste sites, preventing waste from being illegally exported. But it's a dynamic picture. For all the waste sites that we're closing, we're seeing more and more pop up around the country.

[00:03:03] Speaker 2: The chair of a House of Lords committee that's been investigating waste crime has called for the government to take more action, and said the BBC's research has exposed widespread illegal dumping across the country. A DEFRA spokesperson said they have given the Environment Agency more officers and 50% more funding, and they're working to make those responsible pay. But for the communities living near these illegal dumps, there's a feeling that the authorities have a huge mountain to climb to stop this crime. Jenny Kumar, BBC News.