A £3m “superdump” in Kidlington could be scrapped because of confusion over access land.

The planned Oxfordshire County Council recycling centre was announced in 2010 as the showpiece of the authority’s ongoing recycling effort. But failure to resolve ownership of access land looks to have jeopardised the flagship project.

It would have served Oxford and Bicester and seen the downgrading of the Redbridge site in Abingdon Road, which would have become ‘trade only’ on weekdays.

But the council has run into difficulty over an issue about who owns a strip of land close to the proposed site, on greenbelt farmland between Oxford Spires Business Park and Langford Meadows Wildlife Site.

The centre had originally been due to open in summer 2011. County councillor John Tanner said: “I understand that the council l Continued from Page 1 is about to scrap the planned recycling centre.

“It seems the county cannot find out who owns a ‘ransom strip’ at the entrance to the Langford Lane site.”

He added: “It could mean improving the Redbridge recycling centre instead and keeping that open to the public which is really good news.”

A ransom strip is a piece of land not owned by the site owner but required for access.

The council would need to buy the land or it could face issues in the future if the owner were block access or start charging for them to access the site.

Oxfordshire Waste Partnership spokesman Paul Mocroft said: “(Kidlington) is probably not likely to be going ahead because of the land use.

“The council is now not going to be closing Ardley or Redbridge in the interim so people can still take their waste there.”

The council had planned to close Redbridge completely to the public, but that was scrapped in March 2011.

An equally controversial plan was to stop taking general waste at any of the sites except for the new Kidlington site, but this was also dropped.

The county council last night said a final decision had not yet been taken on the Kidlington site, but admitted there were “difficult land issues”.

County council leader Ian Hudspeth did not return the Oxford Mail’s calls.

Council spokesman Martin Crabtree said: “The county council has been working hard to resolve difficult land issues at the Langford Lane site in Kidlington.

“If the Kidlington project did not go ahead we would review our options, with the need for people in the Bicester area to have a facility that they can reach being part of our considerations.”

Residents in Kidlington had raised concerns about how the centre would have affected wildlife, neighbouring business park and traffic.

Parish councillor Andrew Hornsby-Smith said: “We would be absolutely delighted if the plans were scrapped.

“This was never a viable site.”

But Bicester town and district councillor Les Sibley said: “It’s bad news for people in Bicester who will have to drive miles to dump their rubbish.

“In this current climate, where every penny matters, people can’t afford to drive 40 miles to the tip and will just take the other option and dump rubbish in the countryside. It’s not good enough.”

The Ardley recycling site is due to close in autumn 2013.

But operator Viridor has said it would be willing to enter negotiations with the council.

The company is also due to open an incinerator on the same site by the end of 2015.