Over 30,000 members of the public have signed the Soil Association’s Stop Killing Our Rivers petition which calls on the government to clean up the River Wye and other UK rivers impacted by pollution from industrial poultry production.
Hereford MP Dr Ellie Chowns, the Green Party MP for North Herfordshire and a champion for the environment, has agreed to take the petition to Parliament.
On the banks of the River Wye, which runs through the city, Ellie expressed her support for the campaign: “Protecting our rivers is an issue that’s really close to my heart. The River Wye, which runs through my constituency, is seriously affected by pollution, mainly coming from agricultural run-off, with the industrial poultry industry a key factor.
“I’m really happy to accept this petition and want to say thank you to the Soil Association for all the work they’ve been doing campaigning on this. I’m going to keep on supporting your work and that of everybody else who is helping our UK farmers to grow healthy, sustainable food that protects good jobs and nature”.
Launched in March, the Stop Killing Our Rivers campaign has helped raise awareness of the risk to rivers across the UK if the intensive chicken industry continues to expand. With the meat sector rising by one million birds per month for the last decade, rivers in at least seven counties across Britain are at risk of becoming dead zones depleted of wildlife if UK governments don’t take action.
The petition calls for a ban on new intensive chicken units, support for farmers to exit the industry and for action to reduce chicken consumption to more sustainable levels. It has demonstrated to the new UK government and governments in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, that there is clear public support for an end to this environmentally destructive industry.
River health is forefront in the minds of the new Labour government and governments in Wales and the other devolved nations. “Cleaning up the rivers, lakes and seas” is top of a list of five priorities from Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, Steve Reed. While his current focus is on pollution caused by water companies, the Soil Association welcomes his recognition in a speech made earlier this month that “we need a catchment level approach to water pollution to include agriculture” and that “we need to reform the entire water system to address these complex problems”.
Dr Ellie Chowns MP has also tabled a Parliamentary Question asking the Secretary of State to make an assessment of the Soil Association’s asks in its Stop Killing Our Rivers report which will receive a a response from the Minister or Defra in the next two months.
