River Wye needs ‘protection zone’, say Greens and Fearnley-Whittingstall

North Herefordshire candidate and chef also call for water industry overhaul and more support for farmers

The Green party and the celebrity chef Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall are calling for a protection zone" to be placed around one of the UK's most beautiful but threatened rivers and have demanded drastic" nationwide changes to the water industry's management and regulation.

At a wild-swimming event on the River Wye on Wednesday, Fearnley-Whittingstall and the Green party's candidate for North Herefordshire, Ellie Chowns, both took dips, but only after measuring the level of pollution in the water.