ANGLERS are mounting a legal battle over a massive chicken farm on the banks of the river Wye - over fears pollution will kill the fish.

Pressure group Fish Legal is battling against a plan to double the size of the chicken farm to 180,000 birds.

It fears that dirty water run-off from the site could pollute the Wye, which runs from Plynlimon in mid Wales all the way to the Severn estuary.

The farm is two kilometres from the river and was given planning permission by Powys County Council for the chicken farm extension.

Planners approved the bid to double number of broiler chickens at Wernhalog Farm, Llanfaredd, near Builth Wells, to 180,000.

Fish Legal believes that the decision to approve the application is “unlawful” and should be “quashed.”

A spokesperson said: “In particular, it highlights a failure by the council to properly consider what will happen to tonnes of additional poultry manure that will be spread as digestate on land in the River Wye catchment.”

In February, Monmouthshire County Council stopped short of joining calls for a Water Protection Zone on the Wye amid ongoing pollution concerns.

The council agreed that the level of phosphates in the river were of concern, but did not join their counterparts in Herefordshire in calling for government action.

A spokesman for Powys County Council said: “The council can confirm that it has received a letter from Fish Legal."

Fish Legal was previously known as the Anglers’ Conservation Association, which was founded in 1948 to protect all inland and coastal waters in the United Kingdom from pollution and other environmental damage.