RESIDENTS are kicking up a stink over fresh plans to turn a piece of land into a rubbish dump.

Last year, property developer Martin Young was refused permission by Oxford City Council to turn the patch of land in Long Wall into an official tip.

But now, the council has admitted it was the wrong authority to deny Mr Young permission, and instead said the powers lay with Oxfordshire County Council.

Last night Mr Young said he had ibeen reimbursed nearly £600 by city council officers for the error.

He now plans to make an application for the site, which measures 20ft by 40ft and is next to three homes in Littlemore, through the county council.

Mr Young, from Headington Hill, said he was renewing plans for the tip. He said: “I have got to start the whole process over again.

“They were never the right authority. It has been a complete waste of time.”

Mr Young bought the land for £600 in October 2007 and applied for permission to build a chalet on it.

The planswere refused in April last year.

He had hoped to use a legal loophole to prove the small site had been used continuously for rubbish for 10 years, so he could turn it into a recognised dump. He claimed the city council had not acted against flytippers who contributed to ‘40 tonnes’ of waste on the site.

He said he hoped that, by applying for a rubbish tip, it would show people that a chalet was a preferable option.

In October the city council threw out his tip application, claiming he had not submitted enough evidence showing it had been used as a dumping ground for more than a decade.

But last night it admitted it had been wrong to deny him permission.

A city council spokesman said: “We have refunded Mr Young the fee that he paid for making his application since it is the county council and not the city council that has to deal with this sort of planning application.

“It is the case that county council and district council responsibilities sometimes overlap and in this instance Mr Young applied to the wrong authority.”

Littlemore city councillor Gill Sanders said she hoped the county council would not entertain the idea.

She said:” It is a very, very silly idea and I hope county officers dismiss it out of hand, as the city did.

“The piece of land is very close to homes which have very young children. It is definitely not the right place for a rubbish dump.”

Oxfordshire County Council confirmed it had received an application for a certificate of lawful existing use and development for the plot of land.

A spokesman added: “This is not a planning application but an application to attempt to establish that the land has been used as a waste disposal site for the past 10 years.

“The council can only consider matters of fact and determine whether the evidence that the applicant has provided supports the existence of the claimed use.

“The application will be determined in the coming weeks.”