The growth plans that Herefordshire Council are proposing to put out for consultation in just over a week, pose a huge risk to the Nation’s favourite river, the River Wye.
The River Wye is a European Special Area of Conservation (SAC) due to the rare species that inhabit the river and its environs. It is popular with anglers from all over the country; has a national walking trail along its length; attracts rowers, canoers and rafters and flows right through the centre of Hereford City. Its waters, flowing from mid Wales, provide the small towns along its way, and Hereford city, with their main source of drinking water.
Back in 2009 Herefordshire Council’s own water study warned that the sewerage treatment works were “at the limit of their capacity. This includes all of the main market towns”.
The Council’s latest Sustainability report (July 2011) on the proposed revised preferred option highlights that the risk the housing growth could have on the River Wye (page34):-“development, particularly of the housing proposed, within Hereford may have significant negative effect on water quality (SA objective 18.1) in the River Wye” .
To try and find a way forward a Water Steering Group has been set up to resolve this conflict, but to date there are more unanswered questions than answers.
Watching David Walliams swimming through sewerage in the River Thames this week, I was struck how awful this must have been for him and those on the river and I thought how different those waters are to our beautiful River Wye. This might all change though if Herefordshire Council wants to keep pushing ahead with vast housing plans without first solving the constraints Mother Nature has put on our local environment.
Once pollution has got into a river, especially one with such rare species and as unique as the Wye, then it may take years to restore it to somewhere close to what we enjoy now, but there is no replacing the fish and aquatic life destroyed. Do we want a river of sewerage like the Thames? We must all ask ourselves whether the price of risking a Special Area of Conservation and related income from tourism/ angling/boating/agriculture, etc is worth paying for more executive homes.
