PAPER was piling up outside an Oxford community centre in March, 1990, after a recycling firm called a temporary halt to collections.

Bundles of old newspapers, magazines and other paper were left in a collection pen alongside Ferry community centre in Summertown after a permanent skip was withdrawn the previous month.

City council public health officers estimated there were about eight tons of paper and they were concerned about the risk of vandalism.

An inspector visited the site and senior engineer Paul Kirkley said he was in 'daily contact' with the North Oxfordshire Community Association which ran the recycling scheme.

He said: "Although the scheme isn't anything to do with the county as such, we are obviously concerned about the situation."

Sue Costar, of the community association, said she hoped the contractors would bring back the skip within a week and, in the meantime, was trying to arrange another waste paper merchant to make a one-off collection.