Singer and environmentalist Feargal Sharkey has accused the Environment Agency of illegally draining a section of the River Lea, which hosts the oldest fishing club in England and a rare population of brown trout.
The former Undertones frontman, who chairs the Amwell Magna Fishery (AMF), has written to the regulator to threaten legal action if it does not stop abstracting water from a section of the river in Hertfordshire.
The AMF has used this stretch of the River Lea, known as the River Lee between Ware and Stanstead Abotts, for fishing since 1841.
It claims the Environment Agency began reducing the flow of the Lee on June 3, apparently without statutory authority.
Their letter says the action is devastating aquatic life in the area, including the River Lea’s only population of breeding brown trout which need a certain level of oxygen to survive.
The club adds that it will commence a judicial review if the Environment Agency does not comply with its demand to cease abstraction.
Lawyers representing AMF say it is not clear why water is being abstracted from the Lee, which falls within or is near to areas protected for conservation and scientific interest.
But it comes as England battles with water shortages and droughts this summer, which has prompted water companies to ask regulators for permission to abstract water from rivers to help shore up supply.
Sharkey called the Environment Agency’s abstraction of the Lee as “environmental vandalism unmatched in recent history”.
“What is most extraordinary in all of this is that very government agency established to protect, conserve and ensure our river’s futures is now engaged in decimating the oldest populations of breeding brown trout in the River Lee.
“At a time when the regulation of our waterways is under such intense scrutiny you would assume that the Environment Agency would be desperate to do the right thing. Well, that time has come.
“It is now time to make sure that our rivers can and do have a bright, prosperous future.”
AMF, based in Stanstead Abbotts, says that about 156 million litres of water per day were originally flowing through the Lee, but this has now been cut to 66 million.
As a holder of fishing rights in the area, the club also argues that it is entitled to the natural flow of water into and through the fishery.
The letter also notes the fishery has carried out “significant conservation work” alongside the Environment Agency to restore brown trout to the area following the impact of weirs, sluices and flood defences.
Ricardo Gama, a partner at law firm Leigh Day representing AMF, said: “Our client is perplexed by the Environment Agency’s inexplicable decision to alter the flow of the River Lea.
“In our client’s view, not only has this had a devastating impact on a stretch of the river, which is an internationally designated habitat, it has put at risk a brown trout conservation project that the agency itself was running with our client.
“We have now sent a judicial review pre-action letter requesting that the agency urgently restores flow to our client’s stretch of the river.”
The Environment Agency (EA) has been contacted for comment.
