River Wye taskforce would act to clean up waterway, letter says

The river's status was downgraded to "unfavourable declining" by Natural England

The government is being urged to set up a border task force to clean up the River Wye.

In a letter, Herefordshire Council chief executive Paul Walker says laws to stop pollution are not working.

The letter is backed by local wildlife groups, charities, and local politicians.

They say the public has lost faith in leaders and agencies and concern about the river is causing conflict in communities.

The letter, sent to the Secretary of State for the Environment Thérèse Coffey, says the river is constantly in the national spotlight.

But, it says not all the solutions put forward have potential and goes on to add: "At present, not all agencies, councils, delivery partners, rural businesses or indeed the environmental lobby are agreed on either the evidence, or the best solutions to tackle the challenge.

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"The lack of agreement is impeding progress, with the constant need to revisit options already disregarded. The public simply do not accept why this should be the case... and neither do I."

Mr Walker wrote the current system of management and those proposed by Natural England and the Environment Agency did not produce coherent strategic plans and lacked a clarity of purpose.

His letter also says there is too much delegation to junior managers, confusion of roles and meetings are too infrequent.

He said a task force, led by politicians on both sides of the border between Wales and England, would provide "clear strategic leadership" and would be a "radical solution" to the problem.

The proposed task force would report directly to the secretary of state and Mr Walker said it would be able to identify and bring forward "immediate actions".

Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Thérèse Coffey has been told an "alternative way forward" is needed

In May, the river's status was downgraded by Natural England after a decline in important species such as Atlantic salmon and the native white-clawed crayfish.

It has recently extended its Impact Risk Zone to cover the entire River Wye catchment area in Herefordshire and the Forest of Dean, Gloucestershire.

That means the impact that any new building or activity could have on streams and rivers will need to be assessed before it can take place.

The Environment Agency said it had carried out 536 farm inspections in the West Midlands in the past year

Of those, 291 were in the Wye catchment, an increase of 54% on previous years.

In January, its inspectors carried out 22 inspections near rivers and found 15 were not complying with the laws about farming and water.