River Wye: Landmark legal case from River Action to save 'dying' river could 'expose' the 'sham' of UK environmental protection

The River Wye is “almost dead” and “we can’t stand back and let this happen”, the founder of charity River Action said ahead of its legal challenge against the Environment Agency and the Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs (Defra).

The charity claims that both acted unlawfully in failing to protect the river from agricultural pollution. The court case is being heard today (Wednesday 7 February) in Cardiff.

Ahead of the legal challenge, founder and Chairman of River Action UK Charles Watson, told NationalWorld that the “laws have never been enforced” to protect the river and a “critical” one hasn’t which is “that it is an offence to spread manure and fertiliser that the soil cannot naturally absorb.” He added that the “river is dying” and the charity has one “simple request” for the Environment Agency to “enforce the law you introduced to protect our natural amenities from the filth and destruction that is happening and being put into them”.

At the heart of the judicial review are regulations known as the farming rules for water which were introduced in 2018. They state that farmers must make sure that fertiliser does not get into watercourses and that they should not put more on fields than is needed.

River Action says the Environment Agency deliberately ignored the rules and allowed the farmers to apply excessive amounts of manure to fields, creating nutrient rich run-off that found its way into the River Wye. Protestors gathered outside the court this morning to support the charity’s legal case, including the likes of fierce sewage campaigner Feargal Sharkey. 

He told NationalWorld: “We are asking the court to intervene and demand and order the Environment Agency to go and do the job it was set up to do, and that is protect our rivers.” He said that the case will “call into question the whole system of regulation” and if it wins “it will expose the whole sham that is environmental protection in this country”. Pat, a local, told NationalWorld it is “absolutely awful” and the authorities “should be held accountable for it.”

The health status of the River Wye was downgraded last May meaning its condition is poor – and worsening. The river is the UK's fourth-longest river stretching some 155 miles from mid Wales to the Severn estuary and is designated an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.