The refusal to grant bathing water status to the River Thames at Wallingford is “utterly baffling’, says a district councillor.

The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) decided to not accept a joint application to designate the stretch of river near the town as bathing water.

The application – submitted by South Oxfordshire District Council and Wallingford Town Council with support from environmental charity Thames 21 – would have required Thames Water to treat waste outflows to a much higher standard. 

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This would have ensured that harmful material was removed before water was released into the river.

Green Party district councillor Jo Robb, who led the Wallingford campaign, said: “I am so disappointed and angry, for everyone who worked so hard on this bid. We have no idea why the application has been refused.

“The process is opaque and seemingly random. We had no opportunity to respond to DEFRA’s concerns and were not even aware there were any concerns until we were told the application had been refused.”

Mrs Robb, who is a wild swimmer with the group Henley Mermaids, said the decision had a “strong whiff of political interference.”

This is the second time Wallingford has been unsuccesssful in its ambitions for bathing water status – with an application by the town council withdrawn last year.

Mayor Marcus Harris said: “We are very sad not to have become the third place in England to have achieved such an honour. For now, sadly, its back to the drawing board.”

However, Geoff Brown, captain of Wallingford Rowing Club, argued the river was too polluted to be safely designated as bathing water.

He said: “If by some fluke, it had been granted status, then people would have gone down and swam and thought it was safe, when they shouldn’t because it is revolting.

“It surprises me they applied for it considering how filthy the water is. Whenever we take our boats out, they come back in covered in brown scum.”

Mr Brown said he still wanted to see bathing water status implemented in the future.

He said: “It would great for all river users. We’re sitting on top of the water, but we splash about quite a lot, and it still gets into your system.

“I’m not sure applying for bathing water status right now is the best way to go about it. The pressure should put on the water companies before the application is made.

“I wouldn’t swim in that river. Our boats are revolting whenever you take them out on the water.”

When approached about the reasons for the refusal, a spokeswoman for DEFRA said it would not comment on applications not taken forward to consultation.