Environment Agency faces legal battle over water removal in Norfolk Broads

Tim and Geli Harris to take agency to high court over groundwater removal for farming near protected wetlands

A couple are taking the Environment Agency to the high court in a landmark case to stop the abstraction of water damaging internationally important wetlands in the Norfolk Broads.

In a sign of the growing struggle over the allocation of scarce water resources in the dry south-east, Tim and Geli Harris are seeking to reduce the removal of groundwater to irrigate potatoes and other crops farmed next to three protected wetlands, including Hickling Broad national nature reserve.