River Wye needs ‘protection zone’, say Greens and Fearnley-Whittingstall
River Wye needs ‘protection zone’, say Greens and Fearnley-Whittingstall
North Herefordshire candidate and chef also call for water industry overhaul and more support for farmers
The Green party and the celebrity chef Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall are calling for a “protection zone” to be placed around one of the UK’s most beautiful but threatened rivers and have demanded “drastic” nationwide changes to the water industry’s management and regulation.
At a wild-swimming event on the River Wye on Wednesday, Fearnley-Whittingstall and the Green party’s candidate for North Herefordshire, Ellie Chowns, both took dips, but only after measuring the level of pollution in the water.
Fearnley-Whittingstall, who is a Green party member, said: “I love swimming in rivers and the sea. It makes me angry we have to check that it’s safe before we get in.”
This is the best summary I could come up with:
The Green party and the celebrity chef Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall are calling for a “protection zone” to be placed around one of the UK’s most beautiful but threatened rivers and have demanded “drastic” nationwide changes to the water industry’s management and regulation.
At a wild-swimming event on the River Wye on Wednesday, Fearnley-Whittingstall and the Green party’s candidate for North Herefordshire, Ellie Chowns, both took dips, but only after measuring the level of pollution in the water.
Fearnley-Whittingstall, who is a Green party member, said: “I love swimming in rivers and the sea.
“We should be having long strands of ranunculus [weed] drifting through the water with beautiful white flowers, dragonflies, swallows, fish rising.
The Green party wants a water protection zone around the river to help it recover.
Among the local people who turned up to swim in the Wye off a pebble beach next to the Tresseck campsite in the Herefordshire village of Hoarwithy was Lou Le Rey, who had taken dips here for 12 years.
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