River Lugg: EA issued with EDR

Posted on by ST Comms

Salmon & Trout Conservation issues formal request to the Environment Agency under the Environmental Damage (Prevention and Remediation) (England) Regulations 2015 over horrendous damage caused to the River Lugg in Herefordshire.

Salmon & Trout Conservation (S&TC) has today issued a formal request for action under Regulation 29 of the Environmental Damage (Prevention and Remediation) (England) Regulations 2015 over damage caused to the River Lugg Site of Special Scientific Interest.

The formal request requires the Environment Agency to consider whether damage, as defined by the Regulations, has occurred and if so, to inform S&TC of the action it will take. The Regulations also indicate that the cost of addressing the damage caused and preventing further damage, and any mitigation or remediation as may be required, should be met by the person who has caused the damage.

Nick Measham, Chief Executive of S&TC UK said:
 
“Following their inspections, the Environment Agency and Natural England will be very well aware of the extent of the damage caused by the in-river dredging, tree-felling and bank profiling work conducted last week on the river Lugg at Kingsland. 
 
The release of sediment into the river and the loss of habitat on the bed and banks of the river is shocking. The damage caused to protected species, including, but not limited to otters, dippers, bats and Atlantic salmon, is also, patently, very extensive.
 
There is a threat of further damage being caused downstream, due to the condition that the river upstream of Lugg Bridge has been left in, with exposed profiled mud banks liable to erosion during winter flows, increasing silt and sediment transfer downstream.
 
We trust that the Environment Agency will now be prosecuting the person or persons responsible for these terrible events. They will, no doubt, require some time to assemble their case, but we will be watching events very closely”. 
Nick Measham, Chief Executive of S&TC UK added:

“There has been discussion about the need to address flooding at the bridge in Kingsland. Of course this is a legitimate concern for those who have been flooded. But what has been done here, the extent of the works, and how it was done, goes way beyond what would be considered to be reasonable in all the circumstances. It is for the Agency now to decide if it was also unlawful.”

ENDS

Further information is available from Janina Gray (janina@salmon-trout.org) or Nick Measham (nick@salmon-trout.org)

Notes for editors

1) Salmon & Trout Conservation UK (S&TC UK) was established as the Salmon & Trout Association (S&TA) in 1903 to address the damage done to our rivers by the polluting effects of the Industrial Revolution. Since then, S&TC UK has worked to protect fisheries, fish stocks and the wider aquatic environment for the public benefit. S&TC UK has charitable status in both England and Scotland (as S&TCS) and its charitable objectives empower it to address all issues affecting fish and the aquatic environment, supported by robust evidence from its scientific network, and to take the widest possible remit in protecting wild salmonid fish stocks and the aquatic environment upon which they depend. www.salmon-troutscotland.org