A landowner is going through authorized motion for what environmental regulators say is the decimation of a protected river.
Pure England and the Surroundings Company (EA) say the costs towards the landowner embody inflicting injury to a website of particular scientific curiosity (SSSI), finishing up clearance and reprofiling of the riverbank which was more likely to trigger injury to or endanger the steadiness of the river and permitting silt to discharge into the river.
The companies investigated the actions on the River Lugg close to Kingsland, Herefordshire, after complaints that clearance was going down alongside the financial institution in December 2020.
The companies had been alerted after reviews of actions together with dredging, unlawful felling of timber and profiling of the riverbanks over almost a mile (1.5km) of the river.
The officers, together with the police, issued a cease discover to the landowner to halt the works, which the native wildlife belief stated had devastated the river and would have dire penalties for wildlife and water high quality.
After an extended investigation, the EA and Pure England stated on Wednesday that they had begun authorized motion. The costs additionally relate to additional works that are alleged to have been carried out by the landowner in December 2021.
Oliver Harmar, the chief working officer at Pure England, stated: “The decimation of this part of the River Lugg has been devastating to the native setting and to native individuals, destroying the habitats of iconic wildlife equivalent to otters, kingfisher and salmon. It was heartbreaking to see this stunning riverside illegally broken.”
The world is protected as an SSSI owing to its significance for nature. Consent is required earlier than any works are carried out inside an SSSI, which had not been granted, the companies stated.