EAC report ‘Water Quality in Rivers’ & CPRW B&R Poultry & Planning Guide

EAC report ‘Water Quality in Rivers’ & CPRW B&R Poultry & Planning Guide

River Lugg by Sned Wood Photo credit: Gareth Rees-Roberts

The plight of the River Wye has been very much in the news, and on 13th January the (English) Environmental Audit Committee published an important report ‘WATER QUALITY IN RIVERS‘. There are clearly a number of pressures contributing to the deterioration of our rivers but the report summary contains the following statement about the Wye: ‘Intensive livestock and poultry farming is putting enormous pressure on particular catchments, such as the one feeding the River Wye. As many as twenty million chickens are being reared there and their waste may be raising the river’s phosphorus levels. Planning permission seems to be granted for individual units without any cumulative assessment being made of the overall impact of all the intensive farms in the area… New poultry farms should not be granted planning permission in catchments exceeding their nutrient budgets.

If you would like to add your voice to those expressing concern about local intensive pig and poultry applications, please see our POULTRY AND PLANNING GUIDE, which is intended as a quick guide to the environmental impacts of intensive pig and poultry developments and as a resource for use when responding to planning applications.

Comments are closed.