Following on from yesterday's post, there's a new article in the Hereford Times today with some good news for the River Wye.
Herefordshire County Council have voted to put in place a charter to protect the river.
It grants the river:
the right to flow and maintain it's natural course (so no digging to make it flow in a man made channel)
the right to biodiversity
the right to be free from pollution (this one is going to be hard to enforce!)
the right to be supported by a healthy catchment feeding it (so extending the protections to tributaries)
the right to regenerate through natural processes, supported by intervention where necessary
the right to be represented and have its rights recognised.
Councillor Swinglehurst said she hoped that other local authorities would support the charter, and would “find a place in schools and village halls, parish councils, environmental campaign groups, businesses and homes”.
It's unclear how much legal protection that the charter would give the river, but it is a clear statement of intent, and signals the importance that the Council places on the river. So maybe it will be one of the factors that the Environmental Agency takes into consideration when deciding how to best protect the river with a legal framework.
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