Pilot scheme hoped to help after fly-tipping 'catastrophe' caused by serious organised crime

Plans are afoot for a pilot scheme to help fund the removal of waste illegally dumped on private land – which has had a significant negative impact locally.

Last month, a severe dumping incident in Oxfordshire was identified as ‘serious organised crime’ rather than mere fly-tipping – and led to RBWM figures asking to look at the problem.

Thames Valley’s Police and Crime Commissioner, Matthew Barber, addressed this at a Buckinghamshire full council meeting last week.

He said he hoped the force would be able to set up a scheme to get funding to landowners to remove the waste. This would come from money recovered from criminals.

The hope is for a pilot scheme to be set up for early next year.

Mr Barber noted that sometimes landowners will not come forward to report waste dumping for fear they will be lumbered with the costs of removing it – or themselves face a fine.

“We have seen that if we take care of some of these costs, it increases reporting,” he said.

Looking at rural crime more generally, Thames Valley Police looked back over some of its stats.

Between October 2024 and September 2025, rural crime teams carried out 552 stop searches with a 39 per cent find rate and issued 935 pieces of crime-prevention advice.

In total, £3.7million in stolen goods or criminal assets was recovered and 291 people were arrested for 333 offences.

Other police stats were also discussed at the meeting.

Workforce and recruitment

Thames Valley Police employs 5,074 police officers and 3,863 police staff, 252 PCSOs, 186 Special Constables, and 1,880 volunteers and temporary staff.

In 2022, Thames Valley Police recruited 774 new officers. Of these, 369 police constables joined neighbourhood teams.

For 2025/26 (year to September 2025), 38 per cent of new recruits are female and 7 per cent are from an ethnic minority background. This is a one per cent increase in both from last year.

The force also has no vacancies among its police officer, detective or contact centre staff.

Meanwhile, the amount of time taken to respond to 101 calls has dropped.

 The six-month average has gone down to 2 minutes and 2 seconds, which is a ‘vast improvement’ on two years ago, said Mr Barber.

In June 2023, TVP decided to replace the 11 local policing areas with five larger Local Command Units (LCUs). The review has made £16.1million in savings.

It has doubled the number of neighbourhood PCs and added more Incident and Crime Response sergeants.

Domestic Abuse Investigation Units are now managed locally and there are now dedicated mental health officers.

Harm Reduction Units have been introduced, and the number of detectives in both the Child Abuse Investigation Unit and Domestic Abuse Investigation Unit has increased.

TVP’s Chief Constable Jason Hogg reported that seven out of 10 people have seen more police in the past 12 months than before – and that trust in the police has also risen.

In Bucks

In Buckinghamshire specifically, Operation Grotto continues – an annual scheme to address the winter rise in residential burglaries. Operational activity includes daily overt patrols.

Last year, the campaign led to 155 fewer burglaries compared with 2023/24.

Since October, the campaign has resulted in five arrests, five stop-searches, 58 vehicle checks, 12 attendances to burglaries in progress, five vehicles seized and four police dog deployments.

The arrests relate to drug driving, drug possession, going equipped to steal (linked to chop-shop activity), possession of Class A and B drugs with an associated domestic abuse investigation.

Meanwhile, the Safer Streets initiative resulted in 81 stop-and-searches and 248 arrests. Officers carried out 60,738 minutes of town-centre patrols.