The crisis in the river Wye is well documented. Excess nutrients in the river are causing algal blooms that choke wildlife. The chief culprit is chicken manure, produced in huge quantities by the proliferating Intensive Poultry Units (“IPUs”) in the Wye catchment, and then spread on fields – from where it washes into the river. Sensibly enough, Herefordshire Council sought, through its Minerals and Waste Local Plan (“MWLP”), to ensure that new IPUs only receive planning permission if they have a detailed plan to dispose of manure in a way that does not harm the environment.
The National Farmers Union (“NFU”) challenged the MWLP, arguing among other things that chicken manure was not waste but a ‘by-product’, because it had an economic use as fertiliser, and so could not be the subject of a policy in the MWLP. River Action intervened, supporting the Defendants with additional arguments on the scope of ‘waste’ for the purposes of the Waste Framework Direct, and evidence on the environmental harm caused to the Wye by manure.
Lieven J resoundingly rejected the claim, endorsing River Action’s submissions in full. Although technically obiter, there are two points of wider interest that are highly persuasive: (1) manure is waste unless it falls within the narrow exception to make it a by-product, which involves showing that it will be used in a way that does not cause environmental harm (in practice what the MWLP required anyway) [82] and (2) planning law did not require the Council to assume that other regulatory regimes (here, the Farming Rules for Water) would operate effectively to prevent any harm, when all the evidence showed the opposite [83].
This case has been covered by The Guardian.
Peter Lockley appeared for River Action, led by David Wolfe KC
