High Court gives green light to Wye pollution judicial review

Campaigner, River Action has secured permission to bring a judicial review into the Environment Agency’s handling of agricultural pollution in the River Wye.

RiverAction argued that by failing to prevent the spread of excessive levels of manure across agricultural land in the Wye river catchment, the EA has acted unlawfully by not enforcing the Farming Rules for Water.

River Action claimed that had these regulations been fully enforced by the EA, then the substantial increase in levels of phosphorus in the soil across the catchment (a major cause of the river’s algal blooms) could have been substantially mitigated. The persistence of these algal blooms in recent years is one of the major causes of the severe ecological collapse of the river, much of which is designated a Special Area of Conservation .

The High Court in Cardiff last week agreed the case can proceed to court. River Action is represented by Leigh Day.