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Month: February 2025

Campaigners demand Nando’s go public with promised audit of chicken suppliers harming UK rivers

Posted on by Molly Allen

Campaigners have welcomed Nando’s decision to carry out an independent audit of the environmental impact of its chicken supply chain in response to growing evidence of the ecological damage being caused to UK river catchments by the unsustainable disposal of the millions of tons of animal waste produced by chicken factory farms. However, they are also calling on the company to go further in ensuring full transparency and accountability and have written to Nando’s with their demands.

In a letter to the CEO of Nando’s Mark Standish, environmental campaign group River Action, alongside public figures including Dame Joanna Lumley, Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall, Chris Packham, Dominic West, Jo Brand, Mya-Rose Craig, Paul Whitehouse, Robert Plant, Robert Macfarlane, Johnny Flynn, Jim Murray and George Monbiot, have urged the restaurant chain to take stronger action. They have asked specifically that the company commits publicly to two key actions:

  • Environmental Leadership: Commit publicly to the protection of Britain’s rivers as a core pillar of its sustainability policies. These commitments must demonstrate rigorous standards to ensure that the vast quantities of potentially toxic chicken manure produced by Nando’s supply chain is managed in an environmentally responsible manner; and does not cause further diffuse pollution of UK river catchments.
  • Timely Transparency: Publish the full findings of the promised supply chain audit in full no later than three months from now, allowing consumers to make informed decisions about the brand’s procurement  practices.

Huge public interest

The campaign, coordinated by River Action, has sparked huge interest on social media, with fans engaging in conversations and amplifying the discussion. A social video post by activist-actor Jim Murray (The Crown, Masters of the Air) standing waist-deep in the River Wye, dressed in a sharp business suit and calling on Nando’s to stop polluting Britain’s rivers, has gone viral—so far amassing more than 4.5 million views. His powerful message has further fuelled public debate, putting increased pressure on the brand to respond.

These demands come as recent YouGov BrandIndex UK data revealed a sharp decline in customer satisfaction with Nando’s following the exposure of its river polluting supply chains.

River Action’s Head of Campaigns Amy Fairman said, “Factory-farmed poultry is wreaking havoc on Britain’s rivers, polluting vital waterways like the River Wye. But brands like Nando’s have the power and the responsibility to drive change. By demanding stricter environmental standards from their suppliers, they can help protect our rivers.

“Nando’s recent commitment to an independent audit is a step in the right direction, but transparency and accountability must follow. Now is the time for bold action. We urge Nando’s to lead the way, commit to protecting rivers, full transparency in their promised audit, and hold suppliers to the highest environmental standards. Our rivers can’t wait—will Nando’s rise to the challenge?”

Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall, environmental campaigner and chef, added: “It’s encouraging to see Nando’s taking steps to investigate its supply chain, but true leadership means full transparency and a commitment to real change. Consumers deserve to know that their food choices are not contributing to environmental harm, and Nando’s has the power to set a new industry standard by holding their suppliers accountable.”

ENDS

Notes to editor
River Action met with Nando’s Chief Operations Officer, Head of Sustainability and Head of Reputation and Communication on 13 February to discuss concerns about their supply chain’s impact on UK rivers.Actor activist Jim Murray’s social video post has so far been viewed more than 4.5 million times. Breakdown:

  • Instagram: 2,700,000
  • TikTok: 1,800,000
  • LinkedIn: 61,000
  • X: 26,000
  • Facebook: 2,500

 

Dr Alison Caffyn: “Chicken farm… or factory?”

Posted on by Molly Allen

I have had to address this question twice in the last week. Both times I was chatting with people from conservation charities in Shropshire about the environmental impacts of intensive poultry operations locally. Both times the individual expressed sympathy with chicken farmers – along these lines: “It’s been so difficult for family farms in the last few years; what with low farm gate prices, huge shifts in support mechanisms and challenging climate changes. One has to symphathise if they feel their only option is to put up a chicken shed or two.” Each time I have tried to rebalance their perceptions of a typical ‘chicken farm’ in this area.

Firstly, it is true, there are some operations which fit the above description, particularly on and over the Welsh border. Small, one shed, free range egg units with, commonly, 16,000 birds operating in upland landscapes, diversifying from unprofitable sheep or cattle businesses. There are even some older chicken operations producing a few thousand organic and free range birds for the local market – but these are few and far between. The vast majority of intensive poultry units have capacity for 30-90,000 hens or many hundreds of thousands of broiler (meat) chickens.

When I interviewed farmers and land agents in Shropshire and Herefordshire for my research we discussed farmers’ motivations for going into poultry. I even developed a typology. The five ‘types’ included the ‘desperation factor’ described above. But there were also: older, large, well-established broiler operations – some dating back to the start of the industry in the 1960s and some still owned by the chicken processing company (Cargill). There were many large farms which diversified into poultry in order to support other farm enterprises. There were several large estates developing poultry as a new venture (for tenants) and finally, a few cases where investors had made speculative land purchases in order to set up a new poultry operation.

Some older sites have been expanded in stages over the decades with some IPUs now having 10-16 ‘sheds’ and up to a million birds. I was told the average return on investment (of about £500,000 per shed at the time) was ten years. Sooner, if the site installed biomass boilers and the like to receive generous Renewable Heat Incentive payments. Some IPUs were making substantial annual profits.

I’ve done a bit of number crunching to check my facts. The average size of all 150 odd IPUs in Shropshire is 131,000 birds. Broiler units are larger on average, housing around 200,000 birds per four sheds. Egg units are generally smaller averaging 83,000 hens – but that includes both several units with only around 4,000 birds and one large egg operation with nearly 2 million.

I have walked close to or through many IPUs in Shropshire and Herefordshire and spent more hours than I care to admit poring over satellite imagery of all the others. Most don’t look or sound or feel or smell like a farm. The brooding 100m long sheds, the acres of concrete, sickly reek and eerie stillness are not what you would expect on most farms. The operation is overseen on the site manager’s laptop or phone. There is a periodic rattle of feed being pumped along automatic feeding tubes. There will be someone who walks through each shed once a day to pick up the dead birds. Until, after six weeks, the lorries arrive to take the birds away to the processing factory.

You get the picture. And that picture is more factory than farm. An agricultural factory, in a rural location. But not a farm. And, indeed, many farmers say exactly this themselves.

We need to take this growing diversity of agricultural operations into account when addressing the impacts of the industry. No one want to accuse all farmers of environmental harm. Many are doing amazing, progressive things to transition towards more sustainable farming systems. Only a small percentage of farms locally have intensive livestock operations, but their environmental impacts far outweigh those that do not. But out of date perceptions and misplaced sympathy are not helpful – although they are often promoted by farming lobbyists.

Dr Alison Caffyn – River Action Advisory Board member

‘A National Scandal’: High Court greenlights Thames Water’s £3bn bailout amid financial and environmental ruin

Posted on by Molly Allen

Responding to the High Court’s decision to approve Thames Water’s £3bn rescue plan— in a legal case in which neither DEFRA nor OFWAT opted to participate —River Action chair and founder Charles Watson said:

“This national scandal is a disaster for Thames Water bill payers and the environment. Instead of recognising now is the time for a special administration of Thames Water, the decision saddles customers with the responsibility for funding billions of junk-rated debt while its executives, investors and shareholders escape responsibility. Customers will now bear the brunt of massive interest payments through higher water bills, paying for corporate failure while our rivers remain choked with sewage.”

“We are extremely surprised that neither the Government nor the water regulator, Ofwat, chose to give evidence in court to support the public interest—leaving it instead to Charlie Maynard MP and campaigners Windrush Against Sewage Pollution to represent us.

“The Government cannot stand by and allow this reckless bailout to continue. It must step in, take back control of Thames Water, and put an end to years of environmental destruction and financial mismanagement – ahead of the even more expensive restructuring that Thames Water has planned.”

“The public’s outrage, as seen at the recent March for Clean Water, makes it clear—people have had enough. The Government must not only take back control of Thames Water but also pass the strongest possible Water Bill to ensure polluters pay and our rivers are properly safeguarded. The Government must recognise that clean rivers and healthy communities aren’t a barrier to economic growth—they enable it.”

“Your chicken is killing our rivers”: British icons take on Nando’s over supply chain

Posted on by Molly Allen

A group of high-profile figures—including celebrities, musicians, comedians, and campaigners such as Paul Whitehouse, Jo Brand, Joanna Lumley, Chris Packham, Liz Bonnin, George Monbiot, Johnny Flynn, Dominic West, Jim Murray, and Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall—have united to pressure Nando’s to take responsibility for its environmental impact. They are calling on the restaurant giant to clean up its supply chain and tackle its contribution to severe river pollution.

In an open letter, high profile names, backed by environmental groups River Action, The Rivers Trust, Friends of the Wye, and the Angling Trust, have challenged Nando’s sustainability credentials, citing their links with suppliers that are “killing our rivers”.

The River Wye, once voted the nation’s UK’s favourite river, is on the brink of ecological collapse due to pollution primarily caused by intensive farming. Tens of millions of chickens are factory-farmed in the region, whose waste is poisoning local waterways and destroying vital wildlife habitats. Despite Nando’s insisting that ‘sustainability isn’t just a buzz word’, their supply chain is part of this environmental disaster.

The signatories’ urgent ask:

The coalition’s ask is simple: Nando’s must do for river protection what they did with their Better Chicken Commitment. They’re calling on the restaurant chain to design and implement a sector-leading plan to protect Britain’s rivers in their sustainability policy; no more PR speak, just real action.

Renowned naturalist and presenter Chris Packham highlighted the urgency, “If Nando’s wants to position itself as a sustainable and ethical company, it cannot ignore the environmental catastrophe in its supply chain. The Wye is dying, and companies profiting from its destruction must take responsibility.”

River Action’s Head of Campaigns Amy Fairman said, “The Wye River is on the brink of ecological collapse, and companies like Nando’s have a moral responsibility to ensure their supply chains are not driving this destruction.”

Liz Bonnin said, “If Nando’s truly cares about sustainability, it must act now to cut ties with polluting suppliers and set an example for the industry. Anything less is greenwashing.”

The coalition is calling on Nando’s to back up its words with real action, demanding immediate transparency and concrete steps to protect the environment. Their open letter—available for download here—urges the company to honour its advertised values and take meaningful responsibility for its supply chain’s impact.

Notes to Editors:

  • After public pressure over river pollution, Nando’s quietly removed references to their suppliers from their website. In their place, they published a new webpage about their connection to the River Wye that presents a misleading picture of their supply chain impact – one supplier amounts to many tens of farms and millions of chickens. The page makes vague claims about policies and waste management, while failing to address where the waste ends up and the core issue of intensive chicken farming’s contribution to phosphate pollution in the Wye catchment.
  • The Wye River catchment area has been subjected to significant ecological harm due to intensive poultry farming, with rising levels of phosphorus pollution leading to toxic algal blooms and the collapse of aquatic ecosystems.
  • Nando’s publicly advertises its commitment to sustainability and ethical sourcing, but questions remain about its adherence to these principles.

Dr Alison Caffyn: “We need Shropshire Council to stop allowing ever more levels of unsustainable industrial agriculture in Shropshire.”

Posted on by Molly Allen
Dr Alison Caffyn at the River Teme

It’s been an interesting start to 2025 as someone with my name on a current judicial review against a proposed new ‘chicken shed’ in Shropshire.….

First, both Steve Reed and Daniel Zeichner, perhaps panicked by angry farmers, say planning processes will be made easier for farm developments, so farmers can grow their businesses by putting up new ‘chicken sheds’. Then, Keir Starmer announces that judicial review (JR) rules will be amended to make it more difficult for NIMBYs to block and delay developments. Both announcements seem to be part of Starmer and Rachel Reeves’ growth agenda being pushed across all government departments.

To take the JR point first, I’m no legal expert but as I understand it you already have to prove there is a case to answer at the start of the process. It’s already a tough road to go down, with only a small proportion of cases being successful. So I’m not sure making it more difficult is necessary – maybe the announcement was just sending a pro development signal. With the case River Action and I are taking against Shropshire Council the judge agreed there was a case to answer on several grounds in our argument that Shropshire Council had inadequately assessed the environmental impacts of the proposed Intensive Poultry Unit (IPU).

It is unfortunate that citizens must take their local planning authority to court to stop more and more IPUs spreading across the landscape. But Shropshire Council has approved 64 applications for around 120 additional ‘chicken sheds’ housing over 5 million birds in the county in the last 10 years, taking the total chickens in the county to over 20 million at any one time. That’s 64 chickens per resident and maybe ten
times the amount of chicken poop than human poop.

Despite objections from local communities and businesses the Council continues to grant permissions without properly assessing the cumulative impacts of this industrial scale agriculture on air and water quality. That’s before you factor in risks such as antimicrobial resistance and bird flu. (Shropshire’s biggest IPU has had to cull two million birds in an outbreak this month.)

And that’s why it’s alarming to hear ministers suggesting government policies should support more ‘chicken sheds’ and make it easier to build them. There are many parts of the UK that are well beyond saturation point with intensive livestock farming. The River Wye catchment has proved the point and Shropshire, Lincolnshire, East Anglia, parts of Yorkshire and Northern Ireland are all on, or over, the brink of the same situation. Building more intensive livestock units will lock the UK even further into an industrial agriculture system, controlled by global multinational corporations, producing cheap but unhealthy food at the cost of nature, climate and communities.

And the crazy thing is we don’t even need more ‘chicken sheds’. The UK is already 90% self-sufficient in chicken and eggs. In fact, if we follow the advice of the Climate Change Committee and the National Food Strategy, we should be reducing meat consumption by 30%.

This type of agriculture is unsustainable and simply generates profits for supermarkets, fast food chains and global commodity giants. By all means make the planning system simpler and reduce the need for citizens to challenge planning decisions, but I would suggest doing it by developing clearer guidelines on, for example, how close IPUs can be built to neighbours, to watercourses and to other IPUs. In fact, why not introduce a moratorium on more IPUs in some areas? That would save everyone time and money!

If would be helpful if government policy focused on encouraging green growth and the types of farming that produce healthy food, boost local economies and help address our climate and nature crises.

– Dr Alison Caffyn, River Action Advisory Board member

Campaigners urge government control of Thames Water, warning Mayor of London swimmable Thames a ‘pipe dream’ under polluting for profit utility

Posted on by Molly Allen

As Thames Water’s top brass meet with the Greater London Authority to explore ways to make the capital’s waterways swimmable, the failing utility is simultaneously seeking High Court approval for a £3 billion rescue plan—prompting campaigners to demand that the Government take back control of the water company.

They warn that “a swimmable Thames is a pipe dream with Thames Water in tatters” and reveal dangerously high levels of E. coli were detected last week near to the site of today’s London Assembly meeting, underscoring the urgent need for accountability and action.

Giving evidence at today’s public hearing is CEO of River Action James Wallace. He says, “We applaud the Mayor of London for his bold and commendable actions aimed at making London’s waterways swimmable. His commitment to ensuring cleaner, healthier waterways for Londoners demonstrates strong leadership that will benefit generations to come. We have seen him take a firm stand against corporate interests pushing for a third runway at Heathrow due to air pollution concerns—now we need him to double down on tackling the water pollution crisis by standing up to yet more corporate polluters.

“Let’s be clear, until Thames Water is held accountable as the main polluter of the River Thames and made to invest in clearing up the mess of decades of profiteering and polluting, nothing will change and the Mayor’s ambition will remain a pipedream.

“As evidenced by soaring levels of debt and sky high interest rates, the privatisation experiment has failed. The only solution is for the Government to take back ownership of Thames Water and write off the bad debt that stains customer bills and the river. We call upon the Mayor of London and the Greater London Authority to pressure the Government to put Thames Water in special administration and restructure its finances prioritising the  people and the environment, not private profit.”

 

Revealed: 2025 sewage discharges and E.coli testing on the Thames

 

Since the start of 2025, Thames Water has dumped at least 784 hours and 58 minutes of sewage directly into the Thames, from its source at Cricklade to its mouth at Long Reach—wreaking havoc on vital ecosystems and endangering public health.

Now campaigners can reveal that last week water quality testing by River Action citizen scientists using a Fluidion World Health Organization WHO accredited verified E.Coli analyser, found dangerously high levels of pollution from sewage pollution along the River Thames at Greenwich near to today’s Assembly meeting. Between January 27 and January 31,  River Action conducted eight water quality tests and found levels of E.coli up to 15 times higher than the Environment Agency considers the minimum acceptable level for designated bathing waters. The levels found were far in excess of what is considered ‘safe’ by the environmental regulator.

Protest led by Friends of the Thames Friends of the Thames, a newly formed not-for-profit seed-funded by River Action and directed by clean river advocate Laura Reineke, today leads a protest outside of the public hearing on making the Thames a swimmable river.

From 9am, paddlers, swimmers, rowers and community groups will demand a cleaner, healthier capital river for all; pointing the finger at Thames Water for persistent and often illegal discharges of sewage that pose a serious threat to human health, water security and wildlife.

Laura Reineke, co-founder of Friends of the Thames, said: “The Thames is more than just a river; it is an iconic symbol of our country and provides the water that sustains our capital’s economy. Its persistent pollution is unacceptable, and Friends of the Thames is here to ensure that action is taken, and promises are kept.  We as a country have become disconnected from our nature and countryside; I’d love to see all communities reconnect with the Thames, and foster a love for her that flows through generations to come.

“We will present Thames Water’s representative with a vial of river water—a stark reminder that their duty is to protect the Thames, a living, breathing river they are suffocating with raw sewage.”Wildlife biologist and broadcaster Liz Bonnin added, “I join River Action in calling for the Mayor of London to hold Thames Water to account for decades of unchecked pollution in the name of profit, devastating this important riverine ecosystem and threatening public health. The company’s plans to increase customer bills, despite paying out £158.3 million in dividends last year alone, speaks volumes. We must make the polluter pay and transform the industry so that it serves people and the planet, as it always should have.”

 

ENDS

  Notes to editor

  • Between January 27 and January 31, River Action conducted 8 tests on the River Thames at Drawdock Slipway, Greenwich. Tests results indicate an average of 8,233 E.coli colony forming units (CFU) per 100ml of water. To meet bathing water quality standards, this level should be below 900 CFU per 100ml to meet the lowest water quality deemed safe for swimming. Our highest recorded spike reached 15,000 CFU, more than fifteen times the acceptable limit.
  • Dedicated to uniting communities along the Thames, Friends of the Thames will advocate for 1) restoration; 2) hold polluters accountable; 3) build a citizen science network to monitor water quality from source to sea.
  • Friends of the Thames will connect communities from source to sea and closely monitor the Mayor of London’s commitment to delivering on promises to clean up the capital’s lifeblood river. The grassroots campaign group will build alliances with river users across the Thames catchment, spanning urban areas and the commuter belt. It will bring together existing citizen scientists and data and establish a network of new citizen scientists to fill in any gaps from the source of the nation’s capital river in Gloucestershire to the Thames Estuary at Southend-on-Sea.
  • Friends of the Thames will reach out to councils across the Thames catchment area, inviting them to sign a Rights of the River Thames  embedding the rights of the Thames as a valuable and irreplaceable ecosystem, and giving the river a voice. This pledge will emphasise the shared responsibility of communities, authorities, and corporations to protect the nation’s capital river for future generations, and begin the process of changing the way we interact with the river, from using and over managing her, to a living, breathing artery that feeds us and the nature that calls her home.

 

For more information, please contact Laura Reineke friendsofthethames@gmail.com, 07989396210 .

  • High-resolution images and interviews are available upon request.