Sir, Thank you for your outstanding campaign to improve the quality of our water. Here in Herefordshire, it has taken more than two years to assemble the cross-border, all-catchment group of agencies, local councils, Welsh Water and other parties needed to address the problem of phosphates in the River Wye.

This pollution is partly the result of sewage discharges, but still more of agricultural run-off. It requires a collective approach, backed by central government. The government has now said that all water fines will be reinvested into river restoration by the Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs. Why not start with the Wye, one of the most glorious rivers in Britain?

Jesse Norman

MP, Hereford & South Herefordshire

This letter first appeared in The Times on 16 February 2023.