THE £65,000 clean-up of Oxford’s infamous superdump has already started pushing fly tipping onto green spaces around the area, residents have claimed.

Kennington parish councillors say tonnes of waste has already been dumped around their village in the two weeks since the clear-up began at Redbridge Hollow.

Others say they are ‘looking forward to talks' on how to avoid this problem in the future.

The mountain of mattresses, building and household waste has plagued the area at the entrance to Redbridge Hollow travellers' site on and off for almost 30 years.

At the beginning of 2017 there was a fresh tipping spree at the site, but Oxfordshire County Council, which owns the land, has been unable to catch the dumpers to make them pay.

So, at the beginning of October, the authority caved and hired Cassington firm M&M Waste Solutions to clear the dump.

The county has said the clean-up operation went to plan and took less than two weeks, but could not confirm whether the final bill is at or above the £65,000 budget.

The council is now planning to build a playground on the land at a rough cost of £35,000 to try to stop the superdump returning.

Locals, though, have poured scorn on the idea that the efforts will stop fly tipping in the area.

Kennington Parish Council chairman Colin Charlett said: "It's just been spread around the area: someone dumped a bath at the end of my road just a few days ago.

"Last week there was a load of stuff dumped at the entrance to Kendall Copse nature reserve in those white, one-tonne bags that you get sand in – two days later someone had tipped all the rubbish out and stolen the bags.

"There were two mini piles on Sugworth Lane then I saw a lorry load of mattresses on the slip road by the Hinksey fly-over.

"Unless you are the county council, you would think it is the same people who were dumping at Redbridge: it is a disgrace."

Mr Charlett said he was confident that fly-tipping would increase.

Asked whether he though the county's playground would solve the problem of fly-tipping, he replied: "No comment".

Parish councillor Roger Gelder is also a member of the Friends of Kendall Copse who look after the reserve where the three bags of waste were dumped last week.

Asked if he agreed with Mr Charlett that clearing the superdump was likely to push fly-tipping elsewhere he said: "It's a valid theory.

"I expect any quiet corner will be abused: you've only got to think of places like our two playing fields where we already get one or two incidents a year.

On the subject of the superdump clear-up, he added: "If you think burning county council money in a big bonfire is a good idea then it's fine, but it's not going to be very effective other than that.

"The only thing which could be effective is proper CCTV and last time they tried that £30,000 worth of cameras were gone within 24 hours."

It is understood that the last time Vale of White Horse District Council put up CCTV cameras at Redbridge to catch fly-tippers they were torn down the next day.

Vale councillor for Kennington Ed Blagrove said: "I am very pleased the operation has started and I'm looking forward to the talks progressing on how we can avoid it happening in the future."

Over the years, Oxfordshire taxpayers have forked out more than £1m to try to solve the superdump.

In 2008, the county set aside £858,000 to remove the mess, followed by a £280,000 spend in 2010.

Members of the public also paid £130,000 a year for security guards to be on duty 24 hours a day at Redbridge Hollow until 2012.

The majority of rubbish is in the entrance to the travellers’ site, which is in the jurisdiction of the Vale of White Horse District Council, but owned by the county.

Other spots blighted by waste include the nearby allotments, which are owned by Oxford City Council.

What's more, if the clear-up operation does push fly-tipping elsewhere, it is not Oxfordshire County Council which has to pick up the waste: it is district authorities – the Vale of White Horse in Kennington and Oxford City Council north of Old Abingdon Road – which have to foot the bill for fly tipping.

Early this year the county's deputy leader Judith Heathcoat said the council was 'committed to identifying and taking action against those who undertake this criminal act'.

Asked to comment on residents' fears about fly-tipping, county council spokesman Paul Smith said: "Residents have committed to working with us in monitoring the site and the entrance to ensure no further tipping takes place."

On a more hopeful note, the travellers who live at Redbridge have agreed to work with the county to maintain the play area when it is built – the first time the community have offered to help tackle the superdump problem.

County councillor for Kennington Bob Johnston said: "This is a first: the residents there have never co-operated with the authorities before in the 30 years I've been a councillor here.

"If people say that's what they're going to do, then until they prove otherwise we have to take them at their word.

"Everything else has been tried, and it hasn't worked, so let's see if this works: I am cautiously optimistic."