Farmer jailed for clearing Herefordshire river insists ‘I didn’t do anything wrong’
The farmer imprisoned for clearing a river in Herefordshire ahead of heavy rain has insisted he did nothing wrong, following his release from prison.
John Price – a cattle, potato and cereal farmer – spent three months in prison for undertaking unconsented works on a stretch of the Lugg on a site of special scientific interest between 2020 and 2021.
Speaking to The Telegraph, Mr Price defended his actions and said that the works were necessary to stop flooding of the nearby area, including homes in the village of Kingsland, which had been hit by Storm Dennis.
Mr Price is a well-known local figure, and residents in Kingsland and nearby Leominster offered vocal support in the wake of the conviction.
Some of the residents said that the farmer had acted to protect their homes in the face of a perceived lack of interest from the Environment Agency (EA) and other government bodies.
“Of course it was the right thing to do because it helped to stop erosion,” he said. “I didn’t do anything wrong.”
He argued that the EA, which has responsibility for managing flooding in England, “don’t do anything” and had potentially misunderstood the actions he took.
He said that he had always taken action to clean up the river, partly because of his autism.
“I don’t like a mess on the rivers,” he said. “They probably thought I was pushing it sometimes to clean up, but they don’t do anything.
“I’ve never seen the EA do anything on any of the rivers,” he said. “They’ve done nothing for 40 years.
“I reckon what I’ve done will come right. They’re going to have to do what they’ve put me in prison for. They’re gonna have to do it on every other river.”
Mr Price faced seven charges, brought by the EA and Natural England, including those relating to discharging silt into the river and the destruction of 71 trees.
Dredging has been used for decades to remove earth from the riverbeds as a way to combat flooding.
But the EA now believes that it is not as effective as other options and can be harmful to the environment, as well as expensive, and therefore rarely supports its use.
Mr Price pleaded guilty to all seven offences, which took place in 2020 and in 2021, when he conducted follow-up work on the site.
He was sentenced to 12 months in prison, ordered to pay £600,000 in costs and to take action to help repair the river, which he said was now thriving.
“My river’s got probably more fish, more salmon, more trout, more grayling than what I’ve got on another farm 10 miles downstream. There’s nothing in that river, because it wouldn’t live, couldn’t live.”
Further upstream “the same river doesn’t flow, it’s blocked. I’ve got a 400-acre farm there and it floods because the river has been blocked. Because they [the EA] haven’t done anything. We have always worked this river.”
He said the river was now “It’s the same as it has been for years. Ever since I could remember it.”
The day after he was convicted, local residents told The Telegraph that they supported his actions because he had acted “in all good faith to help prevent us from flooding”.
At the time, one resident, Paul Impey, told the Telegraph: “We’ve been asking for that to be cleared for a long, long time, but that didn’t get done.”
Speaking to Farmers Weekly this week, Rev Julie Read, the vicar of Kingsland, said: “There are people who are very thankful to John Price because he helped those who live right by the bridge who had been flooded a few times.”
She added: “A lot of people who have lived here all their lives are very grateful that he did something and cleared the third arch. There was the feeling that this started with a request from the parish council. John is always very willing to help, but he maybe went too far.”
The EA argued that his actions had made the flood risk worse, downstream, and said that there was no evidence the work he did in 2020 has reduced the local impact of flooding.
A spokesman for the Environment Agency said: “We are in the third year of our £5.2 billion flood and coastal erosion risk management investment programme. In the first two years we have invested more than £1.5 billion to better protect more than 60,000 homes and businesses.
“Dredging is an important part of our maintenance programme. We consider each location carefully and do it where we know it will make a difference. Understanding where dredging will – and won’t – reduce flood risk is key.
“We must be sure it will reduce flood risk to local homes and businesses and won’t increase flood risk downstream.”
After the verdict in April, Emma Johnson, the area manager for Natural England, said that the destruction had been “devastating for the abundance and range of species that thrived in this river”.
She added that the regulators had used their powers “to see that justice was done and to act as a stark warning to others that we will take the strongest action against those who do not respect the laws that protect the environment and wildlife we all cherish”.
Speaking on Friday, Mr Price said: “Everybody is disgusted with what they’ve done to me.
“Everybody tells me they made an example of me but they made such a bad example that they’ve almost finished the business.
“People, friends, everybody. Since I have come out of prison, they don’t shake my hand. They hug me and kiss me.”
He added: “The country’s with me; I’d say 90-odd per cent of the country is with me.”
“We made the country what it is, the farmers look after the countryside, the road, the verges, the hedges, the land.”
Mr Price described his treatment during his 11 weeks in prison as “pretty disgusting”.
“There’s no air in the prison,” he said. “June was really hot. You couldn’t hardly breathe in there.”
He said at one point he was transferred via lorry in conditions “worse than an animal in a cattle container”.
But Mr Price said that he was now looking to the future.
“My kitchen table has been filled up with paperwork for the past two and a half years,” he said. “It’s empty now.”
