A CONSERVATIONIST has raised serious concerns that the development of the new City Link Road has resulted in the Eign Brook running dry.

Richard Fishbourne, who is leading the Hereford brooks restoration project, said he was shocked to discover the brook was "bone dry" during a walk along the watercourses.

But he said the Yazor and Widemarsh brooks still have water flow which suggests that it is not simply a case of the brook running dry.

Mr Fishbourne said he believes deep excavations to build the City Link Road, which will run from Commercial Road to Edgar Street, have forced the water table to lift and resulted in the brook running dry, which he believes has led to fish dying and also flies and invertebrates.

He said: "There is a point where they have dug some very deep excavations before the Widemarsh brook drains into the Eign.

"There is still water running from the Yazor.

"But below Morrisons where the Eign Brook starts there is no water. The water has disappeared.

"It would be too much of a coincidence if the excavation work hasn't affected the flow."

Just the week before he had carried out a survey of flies and invertebrates living in the Yazor, Widemarsh and Eign Brooks and the water in Eign Brook was half way up his wellies.

He added: "It does dry up - it has done in the past but not if a brook above is flowing. There is still some water coming from Yazor and Widemarsh.

"It is something you would expect to see in a period of drought but we are not in a period of drought.

"Something desperately bad has happened there to cause the problem."

The brooks restoration project works to make sure the brooks can be managed sensitively to increase biodiversity, maintain flows and improve aesthetic quality.

A spokesman for Herefordshire Council said: “As part of the City Link Road works, a section of the Widemarsh Brook has been diverted at the former Police Training Ground.

"This involved diverting the brook through the newly constructed culvert and creating a channel along the road. Due to the water levels a stilling pond was created at the south end of the culvert, to allow the water level to rise and flow into the existing brook.

"The water continues to flow in this section of the Widemarsh Brook, which then flows into the Eign Brook. Clearance work in the channel of the Widemarsh Brook and also Eign Brook was completed to improve flows caused by a build-up of vegetation.

"Various elements of work on the City Link Road have required excavations, including the construction of a surface water attenuation tank within the road footprint near to Jewsons. These would not have had an adverse effect on flows in Eign Brook.

"There is an ongoing ecological appraisal of the brook in the vicinity of the works in relation to both the temporary and future conditions.”