A GOVERNMENT minister has slammed a Herefordshire farmer for polluting a river after he was sentenced to prison this week.

But her comment has been called out by one local environment expert for being incorrect.

Writing on Twitter, Secretary of State for Environment, Food, and Rural Affairs Therese Coffey said it was "good to see" a criminal sentence imposed on Kingsland farmer John Price after "horrific pollution".

The farmer was sentenced to 12 months in prison by a district judge in Kidderminster on Thursday after undertaking works to reprofile 1.5 kilometres of the bank of the river Lugg, which the Environment Agency said amounted to 'destruction'.

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Her comment was called out by former Environment Agency manager for Herefordshire and Worcestershire Dave Throup, who wrote that "even the most cursory look at the judgement shows the sentence handed down is primarily due to wilful damage to a protected site, intent and previous history of offending. Not pollution."

The works had also taken place within a Site of Special Scientific Interest, and a Restoration Order under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 was also imposed requiring Price to carry out a number of actions to restore the river.

Price was also ordered to pay prosecution costs of £600,000 and disqualified from being a director of a limited company for three years.

The sentence is the result of legal action launched last year by Natural England and the Environment Agency after an investigation into environmental harm caused by work carried out by Price in 2020 and 2021.

The 68-year-old used heavy machinery including bulldozers and excavators to dredge and reprofile a 1.5km stretch of the Lugg at Kingsland, Herefordshire, destroying the riverbed and banks.

He entered guilty pleas to charges of:

Causing, conducting, or knowingly permitting activity in contravention of an environmental permit (flood risk activity, on or before December 3, 2021)

Failing to comply with a stop notice issued by Natural Resources Wales (by removing material, desilting, and reprofiling the river bank and removing bankside vegetation, December 15, 2021)

Performing an operation to damage a Site of Special Scientific Interest (between November 1, 2020, and November 30, 2020)

Conducting, causing or knowingly permitting activity in contravention of an environmental permit (flood risk activity, between November 1, 2020, and November 30, 2020)

Conducting, causing or knowingly permitting activity in contravention of an environmental permit (discharge of silt into the river Lugg, between November 1, 2020, and November 30, 2020)

Carry on a prescribed process capable of causing environmental pollution without authority (land management and cultivation practices, between November 1, 2020, and November 30, 2020)

Perform operation to damage site of Special Scientific Interest (on or before December 15, 2021)