At last, a victory for rivers over megafarms: now councils can’t treat toxic waste as someone else’s problem | Charles Watson

We won a high court case against Shropshire council's plans for a new polluting poultry unit. Now a precedent has been set

• Charles Watson is chair and founder of River Action

The recent ecological collapse of the River Wye due to pollution from intensive agriculture has been well documented. But the slow-motion repetition of this ecocide on the neighbouring River Severn has largely unfolded out of sight.

For years, local authorities have been waving through industrial-scale livestock production units across the catchment of this iconic river. These toxic megafarms produce vast quantities of animal waste, which is spread on local land with minimal consideration for the cumulative environmental destruction it can cause.

Charles Watson is chair and founder of River Action