Benyon moves to allay fears over river dredging by farmers

[Anglers' Net]

TheNatural Environment and Fisheries Minister, Richard Benyon, has moved to calm agrowing storm of protest in response to reports that the Secretary of StateOwen Paterson had instructed the Environment Agency to prepare options for thederegulation of river dredging to assist farmers and landowners reduce agriculturalflood risks. The Angling Trust secured an urgent meeting with Mr Benyon in hisconstituency, rather than waiting weeks for a slot in the Defra ministersdiary, in order to convey the concerns of anglers, fishery owners andconservation and wildlife groups that the government was about to rip updecades of environmental protection and return to the bad old practices ofturning once natural rivers into drainage ditches.

 

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