A LANDMARK court ruling declares farming manure as ‘waste’ in major victory for River Action in its fight against industrial-scale poultry production in Wye Valley.

The legal process, brought by River Action’s campaign against industrial scale poultry production, exposed the failure of a regulatory regime that has not protected the environment.

The High Court ruled on Monday that chicken manure can be classified as ‘waste’ and a council was entitled to require it to be disposed of under council waste rules.

The Judgment has huge implications for handling manure on farms everywhere.

Following the adoption of Herefordshire County Council’s minerals and waste local plan in March 2024, the National Farmers’ Union mounted a judicial review challenge arguing that manure produced by agricultural developments like intensive Poultry Units is an agricultural ‘by-product’ and should not be classified as ‘waste’.

The NFU did not dispute that chicken manure is the main source of nutrient pollution causing an ecological crisis in the River Wye at the High Court.

In its intervention, River Action said environmentally damaging algal blooms in the River Wye have arisen because of livestock manure causing excessive phosphates to build up in the soil, which then runs off and leaches into waterways.

River Action argued that manure should be classified as ‘waste’ at least until its point of use under the WFD, and that controls need to be in place to ensure that waste producers take responsibility for disposing of waste in a lawful way.

The Hon Mrs Justice Lieven agreed that it cannot be assumed that manure will be used in an environmentally safe way. She then agreed with River Action that, given the environmental problems caused by chicken manure in the Wye catchment area with narrow and specific exceptions, manure is ‘waste’ in law up to the point it is sold or transferred to a third party.

This means that chicken producers in Herefordshire will have to provide a detailed plans to ensure chicken manure can be disposed of safely.

River Action’s chairman Charles Watson said: “This historic court ruling marks a major victory for the River Wye and should set a vital precedent to embed similar enhanced protections into all planning applications for livestock production developments.

“It also demonstrates that our environmental regulators need to now take urgent action to enhance pollution regulations to reflect the serious threat that intensive livestock production clearly poses to the health of our rivers.”

Meanwhile The Welsh and UK Government have announced a new £1 million joint research initiative to tackle water quality issues in the River Wye.

The Welsh Deputy First Minister, Huw Irranca-Davies, and UK Government’s Water Minister, Emma Hardy, made the announcement during a roundtable meeting at which the cross-border research programme will: Investigate the sources of the pollution and pressures affecting the river; Study the impacts of changing farming practices and land management; Develop and test new ways to improve water quality and examine what’s driving wildlife decline and water flow – the movement and quantity of water which is crucial for habitats and species.