Joint letter to Julie James - Intensive Poultry Units along the Wye catchment

Radnorshire Wildlife Trust is pleased to sign this joint letter with colleagues from CPRW and Friends of the Upper Wye, calling for Welsh Government to take action to improve the state of the River Wye. It is more important than ever that we work together in partnership, with fellow community based groups and environmental organisations, and continue to speak out for the river and its wildlife. Welsh Government have the chance to re-set how they approach the issues on the Wye and show leadership on the issue for the catchment as a whole. We want to see real commitment to change, following the Phosphate Summit held in Summer. We look forward to a response.

Dear Minister,

RE: Powys Poultry applications

The CPRW, The Welsh Countryside Charity, and The Radnorshire Wildlife Trust would like to remind you of our separate, previous, calls for a Moratorium (temporary halt) on the approval of units for intensive poultry rearing in Powys. Wales Environment Link, of which CPRW and the Welsh Wildlife Trusts are participating members, called for a similar moratorium in a letter to you dated 18/9/2020.

We were heartened to read your Planning letter “COP15, Biodiversity Deep Dive, Section 6 Duty and the Planning system” and see your determination to stress the essential role of the Environment (Wales) Act 2016 Section 6 Biodiversity duty of Local Planning Authorities. We note the key role that local authorities are expected to play in protecting and enhancing biodiversity and in delivering actions across planning, implementation, and monitoring and that from now on they are required to step up and deliver.

We are concerned therefore that planning applications for intensive poultry units in Powys have continued to be approved since 2016 and there are no less than 13 still awaiting determination, one of which is subject to you holding direction. As you will be aware, Natural Resources Wales (NRW) recently accepted that IPUs were contributing to adverse water quality in the River Wye in its Core Management Plan for the River Wye SAC.

We are further concerned about the process of approval whereby NRW, as the body responsible for sustainable management of natural resources, is satisfied by the imposition of Planning Conditions which leave the Local Planning Authority (LPA) with the responsibility of enforcement.

The outcome is that the planning conditions about negative nutrient impacts arising from manure spreading, foul water disposal and ammonia emissions do not protect the environment because they are not monitored or enforced by either NRW or the LPA.

Moreover, a lack of objection from NRW tends to be a sufficient basis for approval on ecological grounds even though only some of these impacts fall within NRW’s planning remit.

We include a spreadsheet of the planning history for intensive poultry units since mid-2015. This far exceeds the planning record anywhere else in Wales. We ask you to consider the cumulative impact of this history of development on the designated and non-designated natural resources of Powys, including the Wye SAC.

We would be most grateful for a meeting with you to discuss this issue further and would be grateful if you could inform us of when this may be possible.

Yours Sincerely,

Jonty Colchester, Chair, CPRW

James Hitchcock, Chief Executive Officer, Radnorshire Wildlife

Tom Tibbits, Chair Trust, FOUW