A Herefordshire couple have agreed to give £1,500 to a local environmental charity after being found to have allowed waste from their poultry farm to get into the river Wye.

The case appears in a newly published list of “enforcement undertakings” made to the Environment Agency in the year to the end of May.

The EA said that Nigel and Sally Green of Much Fawley poultry farm, by the river north of Ross-on-Wye, had discharged waste water from the farm without permission, “resulting [in] pollution of the river Wye” in April 2021.

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The EA allows those found in breach of regulations to make voluntary offers to put right any offence and ensure it cannot happen again, as an alternative to prosecution.

In this case, the Greens undertook to stop the discharge, replace a damaged bung, undertake training and guidance and cover the EA’s costs, as well as contributing £1,500 to river conservation charity the Wye and Usk Foundation.

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The Greens have also been the subject to a recent prohibition notice from Health and Safety Executive regarding their anaerobic digester on the farm, which takes in cattle slurry and chicken litter.

The Wye and Usk Foundation has also benefited from a £50,000 donation from Welsh Water, which between 2017 and 2018 was found to have made unauthorised discharges from its Eign (Hereford), Leominster and Ross-on-Wye sewage treatment works.

The water company also undertook to review procedures and carry out site improvements.

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