A breakthrough has been made in the battle against chicken farms in the Wye Valley, following a legal complaint submitted against Natural Resources Wales for failing to protect the river.
Fish Legal submitted the objection, which alleges that NRW has failed to deliver its ‘monitoring, assessment and investigation of pollution of the River Wye in accordance with Welsh environmental law’.
The Wye is a designated Special Area of Conservation, and NRW is responsible for policing polluting activities on the Welsh section of the river.
THE FISHING ON THE WYE CAN STILL BE SUPERB. HERE ARE THE BEST PLACES TO STAY AND FISH.
In 2020 and 2021 it was told by Fish Legal that intensive poultry units were damaging the precious waterway, after years of algal blooms high in the catchment. But NRW concluded in 2022, using old data from 2009-2015, that there was no evidence of environmental damage linked to the industry.
Now, NRW has admitted that at least seven of the 43 Wye water bodies are failing on key measures of river health.
“An environmental regulator in Wales seems reluctant to do its job,” said Penny Gane, Head of Practice at Fish Legal.
“We hope this formal complaint will be a turning point for the fortunes of the River Wye.”
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