Tesco to meet campaigners over River Wye pollution

The health of the river has been updated this year to "unfavourable declining" because of a deterioration in key wildlife

Tesco has agreed to a meeting to discuss the ongoing deterioration of the River Wye, a conservation group says.

It comes after a supermarket shareholder and Herefordshire Wildlife Trust member called for the supermarket to take action at its AGM.

Tesco bosses will now attend a roundtable on 17 July, chaired by Wildlife Trusts CEO Craig Bennet.

The BBC has approached the supermarket giant for comment.

Last month, Natural England downgraded the status of the River Wye because of a decline in wildlife.

Campaigners and scientists say intensive farming and sewage pollution have caused algal blooms which deprive species of oxygen.

The Wildlife Trusts, a federation of the country's 46 wildlife trusts, argue supermarket supply chains need to bear responsibility for much of the pollution.

There are 24 million chickens being farmed in the river's catchment at any one time, according to data from the Campaign for the Protection of Rural Wales and the Campaign for the Protection of Rural England.

The supermarket has agreed to meet in July, say The Wildlife Trusts

Tesco is a customer of Avara, which processes two million chickens each week at its factory in Hereford.

Avara has set out plans to reduce the impact that suppliers are having on the river by 2025 and says it has reduced the amount of manure produced by suppliers' farms by 30% since the start of the year.

But wildlife campaigners have pledged to attend supermarket AGMs to press them to take further action to insist suppliers' practices change.

During Friday's meeting, campaigner Richard Tyler asked Tesco CEO Ken Murphy to meet with The Wildlife Trusts.

The firm accepted an invitation to discuss the issue further after the AGM, the group said.

Other supermarkets have also been formally invited to the roundtable meeting, according to the trusts.