A Shropshire campaigner says the River Teme should be granted legal rights because it has become "unwell".
Inspired by the way the River Wye has become the first river in the UK to be given cross-border rights covering it from source to sea, Sam Jones has started a petition which has so far been signed by more than a thousand people.
Sam Jones told BBC News:
"Over the years I've seen decline. I've been a swimmer, kayaked in the past, I'm an angler… you notice things around you.
"It's 30 years since it's been designated a Site of Special Scientific Interest... we ought to bring the focus back to what we have on our doorsteps.
"As an angler, you see changes to insect hatches, there's less rising trout, there's fewer roach… invertebrate changes, biodiversity changes along the riverbank."
The Teme rises south of Newtown in Powys, then flows through Knighton, Ludlow and Tenbury Wells before joining the Severn south of Worcester. It forms the border between England and Wales for several miles around Knighton.
I'm not sure how a river would enforce its rights, and think our moral thinking is impoverished if we express it only in terms of individual rights. But if this move will help improve the health of the Teme, I can't find it in my heart to oppose it.
