THE Environment Agency has added its support to Herefordshire Council to say the City Link Road has not affected the small brooks in the city.

A spokesman for the public body said the Yazor and Eign brooks in Hereford are particularly low and in some cases dry due to less than average rainfall.

Richard Fishbourne, who leads the Hereford brooks restoration project, raised concerns that Eign Brook had run dry due to excavations made by contractors for the county council to build the City Link Road.

He believed that the brook could not have dried up due to less than average rainfall because the brooks above - Yazor and Widemarsh - were still flowing.

However, a spokesman from the Environment Agency said: “The last 12 months have been unusually dry, with less than average rainfall, and although we’ve had rain recently, rain has been isolated so many local river levels are currently low.

“Water levels in the River Dore, River Teme, and small brooks like the Yazor and Eign are particularly low and in some cases dry, as they often are when we’ve had less rain than usual. These environmental impacts are normal and we are monitoring river flows very closely.

“We are continuing to work with all our partners and local water abstractors to monitor the environment and best balance the water needs of people, businesses and wildlife.”

The Yazor brook flows into the Widemarsh Brook, which then flows into the Eign Brook.

The Environment Agency said they inspected the City Link Road near to Eign Brook, where a culvert has been built for the brook to continue flowing.

The spokesman said: "We’ve inspected the site and as the road is raised, the excavations are no deeper than any other road in the area.

"When we visited the area last week, the brook was dry upstream of the road works, but water had started flowing following the heavy rain in the area on Thursday.

"Groundwater abstractions are within permitted activities and will not impact on the flow of water in the brook."