The entire catchment of the River Wye has been formally recognised as a living ecosystem with intrinsic rights in a charter, a UK first that campaigners hope will help save the highly polluted river.

The charter was celebrated at a community event at the Hay-on-Wye literary festival on Sunday. It includes the right to flow, to biodiversity, to be free from pollution, to be supported by a healthy catchment, to regenerate, and the right to be represented, described as a “significant step” towards protecting and restoring one of the UK’s most beloved rivers.

Herefordshire and Powys county councils have already implemented the charter and it is expected to be adopted soon by Gloucestershire and Monmouthshire, covering the entirety of the Wye’s 130-mile course from its source in the Cambrian mountains in mid Wales to Chepstow and the Bristol Channel.