Habitat damage fears over lack of river management

Dr Bob Dowling says authorities are not properly maintaing the Rhea Ditch, a tributary of the River Lugg

A "unique habitat" is being damaged by prolonged flooding that has led to a significant reduction in crop harvest, it has been claimed.

Dr Bob Dowling, hay warden of the Lugg Meadow near Hereford, said the River Lugg Internal Drainage Board (IDB), the public authority responsible for managing the river levels, had not properly maintained the area "for many years".

The IDB said it had to work within "very tight environmental constraints," which made maintenance of the watercourse "very challenging".

De-silting could only be undertaken between the end of July and end of September, a spokesperson said, in order to protect lamprey and spawning fish.

This has not been possible this season because of contractor issues, they added.

Dr Dowling, a former consultant anaesthetist at the county hospital who has lived near the river for more than 50 years, has spent 10 years as hay warden.

It is the traditional "Lammas meadow", a type of floodplain meadow, between the River Lugg and its tributary the Rhea Ditch east of the city.

Wildlife loss

"When the ground is under water for a long time, the soil loses its structure," Dr Dowling said, which had meant the hay harvest had reduced by half this year.

He added this was partly also due to the drought in summer.

Dr Dowling said wildlife used to thrive in the meadows - including snipe, which are now gone, and curlews, which have almost gone.

A spokesperson for Herefordshire Wildlife Trust, which manages much of the area, said that while it was completely natural for it to flood seasonally, climate change was leading to the meadows being under more water, for longer, each winter.

Councillor Elissa Swinglehurst, Herefordshire Council's cabinet member for environment, said landowners could maintain watercourses themselves, subject to the correct permissions.

The wildlife trust spokesperson added the Environment Agency and IDB had tree management work planned along the river this autumn that it was fully supportive of.

This news was gathered by the Local Democracy Reporting Service which covers councils and other public service organisations.