A Lord has made a speech to the House of Lords about the deteriorating state of the River Wye.

In his speech, Lord David Lipsey highlighted the decline of salmon, sickness to children and 'rotten egg odours’ which residents had been experiencing.  

The speech came during the second reading of the Water Special Measures Bill, which was put forward in September to help address issues with water quality in the UK.   

Lord Lipsey, who lives in the Wye region, said the river had been done 'untold harm' by pollution allegedly caused by manure from largescale poultry farms.  

He said: “Residents such as us complain about children who are sick after swimming, rotten egg odours, opaque green pea-soup blooms and brown slime on the bottom. It is not the Wye that we moved next to 30 years ago. This beautiful river is being turned into a sewage dump.” 

Avara Foods Limited, along with Cargill PLC and Freemans of Newent Limited, are facing a legal claim from residents and businesses represented by law firm Leigh Day over the alleged pollution of the River Wye. 

The claim, which launched in March, alleges that poultry production in the region has resulted in large amounts of phosphorous-rich manure leaching into the river, causing algal blooms which have damaged its condition. 

In September, a group of parliamentarians from the River Wye region, led by Lord Lipsey and comprising members of each main party and both houses, joined forces with lawyers at Leigh Day to raise awareness of the need to clean up the River Wye.

As part of his speech, Lord Lipsey commended the campaigning of local residents, including more than 200 citizen scientists who have collected water samples in an effort to highlight the deteriorating state of the River Wye.