The River Lugg has been in the news a lot recently due to the management of the river and of some of the surrounding farmland by a local farmer (see here, here and here). More recently the farmer’s account of events has emerged (click here, here) and we’ll have to wait and see how this matter is resolved. Is it a tale of a nasty farmer? Did we environmentalists jump the gun before knowing the facts? Are the statutory agencies at fault?
Most people who have noticed this event probably had never heard of the River Lugg, I certainly hadn’t, but now we are sensitised to the name which is why I noticed that Lugg River is a horse, the favourite actually, in the 3:07pm race at, appropriately enough, Hereford racecourse today. I wonder how that one will go? The horse is in a weak race and doesn’t have cracking form to my eyes.
But the River Lugg SSSI is quite a beast – it runs from the Welsh border at Presteigne, past Leominster and joins the Wye near Hereford. That’s the English bit, the Welsh have made their bit of the river an SSSI too and that goes from Presteigne all the way to the source in hills northwest of Knighton. This is not a part of the world I know at all well.
If you want to know more about the reasons for the River Lugg being an SSSI along its whole length then you need to go here:
… and then find your way to the SSSI citation (or simply click here).
You’ll find some highly technical, and dreary-sounding, text which means that this is a smashing river with native crayfish, Otters, Bullhead and the exciting Twaite Shad too. It won’t tell you whether Lugg River will win the 3:07 this afternoon [it didn’t – came 4th].
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My Dad fished the Lugg a lot at Lucton which was just down the road from where he lived. He didn’t catch any shad or I think he would have regaled us with the tale at great length. Neither did he catch any bullheads or he would have regaled us with his irritation at great length. Barbel, chub and dace are what he caught, mostly by enriching their environment with cubes of cheddar cheese or Spam.
The Lugg is indeed in a very little known part of England. Maybe because it is on the west side of the Welsh Marches – or Marshes as the EA used to refer to it – and apart from the A49 corridor isn’t well-served by roads and the only major destination to the west is Aberystwyth and why would anyone … anyway the whole area is/was high on a “Tranquility Index” devised by some University or other because it is so far from any major city, road, railway or airport.
Long before anyone lived there at all it was a lot more tranquiller and a lot of deep fertile alluvial soils were formed in sandy and silty deposits from eroding Old Red Sandstone and subsequently people and farming learned to cope with relatively frequent flooding and high groundwater conditions, with some natural and some artificial flood defences.
The current debacle sounds like the outcome of neglect and indifference aggravated by frustration and incompetence and I expect the Hot Patootie of Guilt will be bounced onwards with enthusiasm before the music stops.
Having seen the pictures, it’s an interesting approach to flood reduction – stripping off all the vegetation leaving bare ground really doesn’t look likely to slow the flow.
Damned right. If there was one video that should be mandatory for everyone to watch, especially those involved in this debacle, this is it https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=00tcTY_UEk4 Incidentally there have been some farmers who’ve perpetrated this scorched earth policy for riparian vegetation because they think it will deter beavers, I was reminded of that by the comment this was helping native flora by keeping Himalayan balsam at bay. A bit like saving a rainforest from climate change by turning it into a biofuels plantation.
I was born and bred in this area and i really think that people who dont know the area or their surrondings should actually mind there own business and get on with something they do no
This area has been looked after for generations by landowners who DO care and will always care but im sure not many people know that especially in the Himalayas
Jon, I’m sure there are plenty of excellent conservationists/biologists/hydrologists et al who submit expert information and thoughts to this blog.
Even if they don’t all live on the banks of the Lugg.
As Area Manager for the English Nature team, led by Helen Stace (now CEO at Herefordshire Wildlife Trust), which designated the Wye, Lugg and Teme as SSSIs/SACs in 1996, working with CCW colleagues on the Welsh side, we knew then that diffuse pollution from Phosphate and sediment load (e.g. as a result of ploughing up riparian grasslands for fodder maize and potatoes) was a huge problem. We tried to include a 10m buffer strip along the main rivers and tributaries within the SSSI/SAC boundaries, but the faming community, NFU and CLA would have none of it – there was a huge row which escalated to national level, senior MAFF/DoE officials were involved and we had to back down, draw the SSSI/SAC boundaries at the top of the river bank and/or include only those features (e.g. tributaries, flood pools and meanders) with a direct hydrological connection to the main river. This provided no protection from ongoing land use/land management changes within the catchments, and makes the current case more complicated. Let’s wait and see how the investigation and legal process play out …
Oh surprise, surprise the NFU undermining an initiative that benefits others and the land, but might mean a few less bright pennies for ‘poor’ farmers. It seems that throwing food in the bin is more important than reduced flooding, improved water quality and better wildlife conservation. At a time when we waste 40% of our food on top of a serious nationwide obesity problem farmland is being needlessly expanded, George Monbiot has had some very interesting things to say about growing maize in particular its contribution to flooding and sedimentation. So it’s not just the mutton mafia in the Welsh hills (the Pontbren farmers the glorious exception that proves the rule) that mean there are too many poor sods under threat from flooded homes the lower ground farmers are now making a bigger contribution to it too.
We need an organisation that doesn’t need to hold its tongue when an outfit like the NFU spouts crap or is pushing actions that go in the opposite direction to true progress. An organisation that doesn’t have to curb criticism because it simultaneously wants to try and work on the ground with the same vested interests, that doesn’t have to worry about its charter or its charitable status coming into conflict with supposed politicized comments. It can just go ahead and put forward objective facts to the British public which no one is really doing at the moment beyond comments on social media. Without this the public will be misled or woefully ignorant. This isn’t healthy for democracy, the anti wildlife, pro flooding actions on the Lugg etc are just yet another expression of that, the subsidy bloated crofters I dealt with on Lewis are another.
At the Kingsland Parish Council meeting in September, the minutes say the EA representative informed them that “An SSI [sic] covers works within 8 metres of the Lugg’s water course”. Presumably he said SSSI and this is a transcription error.
Interestingly, the Parish Council has now released a supplementary statement on 10 December, in addition to the first one. The minute of the 24 November meeting where the Parish Council were informed of the “work” carried out by Mr Price the farmer, are not yet on the website. What is interesting is that the October minutes refer to the scheduled walk with the EA to identify issues, and that they had been sent a brief report. Nowhere does it mention Mr Price being given permission for work, and only mentions that Balfour Beatty had been contacted about silt build up in the third arch of the bridge, which was the responsibility of the Highways Agency.
However, my main point is that the EA had made it clear here that work on the water course was covered by a SSSI i.e. the landowner needed prior permission from Natural England for carrying out this work as it is covered by multiple clauses on the SSSI documents which list operations needing prior permission from NE.
The blog for the local community?
https://kingslandlife.com/news/
Daring to put a toe in the water here …… an obvious observation that catchment management whether for wildlife or flood protection or pollution control has to be catchment wide, but with most input and influence from immediate bankside owners. Land Drainage Boards used to do this (not always well) and are an obvious template for getting the important people together to agree good practise…..and penalise bad. A single owner carrying out works unilaterally is very likely to be shouted at and/ or praised by other parties, which isn’t helpful long-term. Get together, talk, listen and be open to learn. Best practise is best exchanged between trusted interested folk.
I just checked and the River Lugg Internal Drainage Board does appear to cover Kingsland where this took place.
https://www.riverluggidb.org.uk/map-of-drainage-district/
“Guardians of the countryside”you’re having a laugh
It seems to me there has been a disregard for policy and procedure which has resulted in this appalling act. The policies are in place for good reason, It gives NE the chance to ensure minimum damage.
I read comments of the pressure to reduce flooding, but the real problem is of farming and building on low land that has a history of flooding. How river banks, adjoining fields and land are managed directly impacts not just the immediate area but everything down river as the floodwater has to go somewhere. Traditionally there were many “Wet Meadows” that would be catchment areas for floodwater allowing a more gradual release of floodwater. It’s the very opposite management to that applied here where the whole riverside ecology has been destroyed.
Twenty miles upriver is a perfect example of a great Wet Meadow, a Plantlife IPA…. one of the best, https://www.plantlife.org.uk/uk/nature-reserves-important-plant-areas/nature-reserves/lugg-meadow
update on this story in Private Eye 8-21 Jan 2021
p.41 under the title Bank Deposit.
Apparently Mr Price has had previous problems with the EA