AN organisation fronted by wildlife presenter Chris Packham is seeking a judicial review in the courts over the lawfulness of the new action plan on polluting phosphates in the River Wye.

The scheme approved by the Environment Agency, Natural England and Natural Resources Wales in September puts the onus for cleaning up the pollution-hit river on voluntary action.

But not-for-profit company Wild Justice, which campaigns for wildlife protection through legal challenges, has reportedly told the regulatory bodies the River Wye SAC Nutrient Management Plan is inadequate.

Over the last two years, the Wye has been hit by algal pollution caused by phosphates, with chicken manure from giant scale poultry production in Powys and Herefordshire blamed as a major cause by campaigners.

A letter sent by Wild Justice to all three regulatory organisations claims: "NE/NRW/EA are in breach of their duties under the Habitats Regulations/WFD Regulations to ensure that favourable conservation status/ good ecological status is achieved and, in any event, to prevent deterioration of habitat and water quality."

It adds that this is because they "continue to rely primarily upon voluntary measures and specifically catchment sensitive farming to deliver the required reduction in phosphates, even though the modelling work undertaken in formulating the Action Plan demonstrates that these measures cannot realistically deliver the required reductions."

An NRW spokesperson said: "I can confirm that NRW has received a pre-action protocol letter from Wild Justice regarding the Wye.

"As this is now part of a legal process, we will not be commenting further at this time."

As a result of new phosphate guidelines, planning authorities now face tighter restrictions on new housebuilding, another source of pollution, including Herefordshire, Monmouthshire, the Forest of Dean and Powys councils.

Powys Council Cabinet member Cllr Iain McIntosh said he was "concerned about both the environmental and ecological consequences" and the impact on house building, business expansion, and farmers’ ability to produce food.

"The effect this is having on our local economy is like a disaster happening under our noses in slow motion," he said

"It’s about time these organisations stepped up to help resolve this serious matter."

And he urged Welsh Water to "play their part" by introducing phosphate stripping technology into sewage treatment works, saying their claims that it would cost up to £3m per plant were completely at odds with a price tag in Europe of around £15,000.

Speaking independently, senior Environment Agency scientist Tim Bailey said last week the situation had become "critical", and livestock farmers may have to cut animal numbers because of the extent of the problem of disposing of manure.

Herefordshire, Powys and Shropshire are the centre of chicken and egg production in the UK, with bird numbers doubling in the last decade to 250 million a year.

"Many catchments are already at or beyond the capacity of the environment to cope, and more will follow unless we take unparalleled action," said Mr Bailey,

"In some instances it will entail the reduction and restriction of livestock production, or the treatment and export of organic manures.

"There are catchments like the River Wye where we need to export to other catchments, but transferring the problem will eventually risk creating a UK-wide pollution problem," he said. "It’s a critical situation."

Two months ago, Tesco chicken supplier Avara Foods said it was in the "final stages of evaluating a range of major initiatives to remove its chicken manure" - estimated to be about 150,000 tons per year - from the river’s catchment.