A letter from the Boreham & Bishopstrow Flood Group to Wessex Water Planning/Developer Services Team:
Dear Wessex Water Planning / Developer Services Team,
I am writing on behalf of the Boreham & Bishopstrow Flood Group in relation to ongoing review of flood behaviour within the River Wylye catchment around Boreham and Bishopstrow.
We are currently engaging with the Environment Agency regarding cumulative flood behaviour.
Following a number of recent flood events, the group is seeking to better understand potential cumulative drivers affecting river loading and downstream flood risk. As part of this work, we are reviewing whether wastewater infrastructure and discharge patterns may contribute to baseline flows within the catchment.
We would therefore be grateful if you could provide general clarification on the following points:
Whether wastewater networks or treatment works serving the Boreham / River Wylye catchment operate under known hydraulic constraints;
Whether surcharge conditions or storm overflow activation occur during peak rainfall or flow events;
Whether additional development within this catchment would typically require reinforcement or capacity assessment of existing wastewater infrastructure.
This enquiry is intended to support a catchment-level understanding of system-wide pressures rather than assessment of any individual site.
We appreciate that detailed responses may depend on specific proposals, but any general guidance or direction to relevant published information would be extremely helpful.
Many thanks for your time and assistance.
Kind regards,
Jeremy Kelton On behalf of the Boreham & Bishopstrow Flood Group.
Proposal Change of use of agricultural land and building to storage (class B8), general industrial use (class B2) and light industrial use (Class E (g) (iii), including excavation works, on-site bund, parking, landscaping and external storage.
Kate Moore writes:
Please comment on this application before 28th October. And tell others to do so all along the Wylye Valley.
it is important to state whether you object or support the application at the outset.
It is the very untidy farm area on the left as you go south to Mere between Maiden Bradley and Norton Ferris.
– It threatens the River Wylye which rises just on the edge of the site
– It will further increasing traffic on our beleaguered B3092!
– Kilmington are concerned that it will impact their drainage systems.
Neighbours / consultees say:
“Westcorn Enviro Waste Ltd has been operating unlawfully from this site, a former pig farm, since 2019 without planning permission and is now seeking retrospective approval to continue, and increase, its activities. The business involves the collection, transportation, and recycling of animal by-products (bone, meat, carcasses, fallen stock etc.).
I am concerned the existing activities at Knoll Farm present a number of environmental risks, arising from the following:
Pollution risks to the Wylye: The site, nearby road and adjacent land is prone to serious surface water flooding. Recent works on site appear to include drainage pipes laid to direct water away to ditches which lead to the River Wylye. There does not appear to be any sump or wastewater disposal system, leaving no provision to prevent wash-down water from lorries — containing cleaning chemicals and animal by-products — from flowing into the ditch.
Significant increase in HGV traffic: These activities inevitably mean a marked rise in the number of large lorries using the B3092 and surrounding lanes, which are already unsuitable for sustained heavy vehicle traffic. This raises safety concerns for residents and road users, alongside the added pressure on local infrastructure.
Furthermore, the planning application submission is poorly detailed and lacks any technical justification of the impacts that will (and are already) resulting from activities carried out at this site. A drainage assessment should be provided as well as an ecological survey (currently not part of the submission) to demonstrate the impact to flood risk, local drainage issues and wider ecology. An assessment should also be required to properly quantify and address the impacts of increased lorry traffic on the B3092 and surrounding roads, alongside associated noise and air quality considerations.â€
The Wylye Chalk Stream Project has been successful in the second round of the Government’s Landscape Recovery scheme.
The Wylye Chalk Stream Project will be the first landscape-scale collaboration of its kind focused on enhancing a large stretch of chalk stream for the benefit of wildlife in Wiltshire. The project will be led by Wiltshire Wildlife Trust and delivered in partnership with the Wylye Valley Farmers group and Wessex Rivers Trust.
River Wylye. Credit: Robin Leech.
World-famous, globally rare and extraordinarily biodiverse, Wiltshire’s chalk streams are an irreplaceable part of England’s natural landscape. However, like many, the River Wylye has been dredged, straightened and polluted over the last few centuries, putting its unique flora and fauna at risk of irreversible decline.
As a result of reduced water quality, low flows, and poor-quality river habitat, wildlife such as river flies, Atlantic salmon, grayling and wild brown trout have suffered, whilst invasive plant species such as Himalayan balsam have been outcompeting native flora on river banks. Water meadows along the river have also disappeared, becoming fragmented and scarce, limiting the ability of wading birds, such as snipe, green sandpipers and lapwings, to spread and flourish.
This partnership will re-establish the vitality, diversity, and ecological abundance of the Wylye Valley by restoring the river’s natural relationship with its floodplain over a 20km reach of currently under-utilised farmland. The river’s resilience to extreme temperatures and flows as a result of climate change will also be improved, as well as its ability to capture and diffuse any harmful excess nutrients and pollutants from the wider landscape.
The work will include chalk stream restoration, floodplain reconnection, regenerative farming, and the creation of natural river valley habitats such as water meadows, ponds and streams.
This is a key project contributing to Wiltshire Wildlife Trust’s goal of landscape-scale nature recovery by 2030, by restoring natural processes, restoring biodiversity, managing more land for nature and creating nature-based solutions with partners.
We are really excited to work with the Wylye Valley Farmers and Wessex Rivers Trust on this project along the River Wylye and its floodplain. The scale of this project and the enthusiasm and involvement from the farmer group will enable us to work together to restore and enhance the Wylye at a landscape scale, creating opportunity for wide ranging benefits for this precious chalk stream and the biodiversity it supports. – Alice Eley, Water Team Manager at Wiltshire Wildlife Trust.
The Wylye Valley Farmers are custodians of this chalk stream. Working with Wiltshire Wildlife Trust and Wessex Rivers Trust, we believe that we can achieve some really pioneering work to fully enhance the biodiversity that lives here. Through this collaboration, we can secure the future of the landscape by leaving it in a better shape than we found it. Robin Leech, Wylye Valley Farmers.
The scheme has been built from the ground-up, with farmers and experts shaping a pioneering and exciting vision. The dream-team of Wylye Valley Farmers, Wiltshire Wildlife Trust and Wessex Rivers Trust will give the legendary River Wylye valley the boost it truly deserves. Dave Rumble, Chief Executive of Wessex Rivers Trust.
Anonymously posted on the Facebook page Spotted In Warminster Town:
Has anyone else seen the naked swimmer down the Wylye? If it was 6am in the morning I could understand a fresh dip, but he was spotted at 10.30am in all his birthday suit glory, some people have no shame!
From Wiltshire Council’s Planning for Warminster – a guide (published in July 2023) to how the Local Plan Review (‘the Plan’), which will replace the Wiltshire Core Strategy, will affect the town over the coming years.
A strategic issue which impacts all sites at Warminster is that of phosphates pollution entering the River Wylye, which forms part of the internationally designated River Avon System SAC. Being located close to the headwaters of the River Wylye, there are limited sites which can provide for mitigation of phosphates entering the watercourse, which represents a barrier to further housing development at this time. It may be possible for development proposals to demonstrate bespoke solutions to the issue of phosphates pollution entering the watercourse, but there is insufficient certainty that this will be the case for the allocation of further sites through the Local Plan. The Local Plan does propose the allocation of a parcel of land on Land at Brook Street for the delivery of wetland to enable phosphate mitigation, to assist in offsetting the nutrient impacts of planned development at Warminster. This land is to be safeguarded from alternative uses, in order to enable implementation of a mitigation strategy for the town.
Sewage spill alert! Reports of a nasty incident at Warminster sewage treatment works today. Apparently Wessex Water informed and it’s been addressed, but a big concerns for this fragile wild trout fishery on the River Wylye. #ChalkStreams shouldn’t be this colour!
From Where To Fish 1978-1979, The Field Guide To The Fishing In Rivers And Lakes, edited by D.A. Orton. 77th Edition. Published by The Harmsworth Press Ltd.:
Avon (Hampshire) tributary River Wylye: Trout, grayling.
Wishford (Wilts). – Preserved by Wilton Fly Fishing Club.
Stapleford (Wilts). – Salisbury AC has fishing here; members only.
Codford St. Mary and Bapton (Wilts). – Piscatorial Society water; members only.
Warminster (Wilts). -Warminster AC has water on Wylye, and coarse fishing on lakes and ponds; members only (membership restricted to rural area).
Longleat Estate owns just over 2 m of upper river; wild trout. Enquiries regarding st to Estate Office, Longleat, Warminster. Trout and coarse fishing on the lakes in Longleat Park for which dt are issued from Longleat House. No information on prices as we go to press.
Major J.C. Walker, Sutton Veny House, lets rods (£150) and half-rods (£100/£110) on 3¼ m of Wylye. Enquiries to Estate Office.
Heytesbury (Wilts). – Piscatorial Society has water; strictly members only.
