'Risk of drowning' in slurry lagoon on Herefordshire riverside farm

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) served two improvement notices individually on Nigel and Sally Green of Much Fawley Farm, a mixed poultry farm near the river Wye between Ross-on-Wye and Hereford.

These said that “unauthorised access to the perimeter of your slurry lagoon is not adequately prevented which poses a risk of drowning”.

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The HSE gave the couple until today (March 22) to comply with the notice. It is now shown as complied with.

Last summer the HSE served immediate prohibition notices on the Greens over their two anaerobic digesters at the farm, which were found to be leaking gas among other failings.

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The Environment Agency earlier issued an “enforcement undertaking” against the farm for discharging waste water from the farm without permission, “resulting [in] pollution of the river Wye” in April 2021.

It made further investigations over water pollution claims at the farm in 2022 and twice in 2023, a recent freedom of information request shows.

Aerial images show the farm is around 200 metres from the river Wye, rated by Natural England as being in “unfavourable-declining” environmental condition.