The Latchford Brook starts in Tetsworth and meets the Haseley Brook just after flowing through Latchford. A few very small streams run into the brook all the way across. The brook flows through mainly arable land and pasture, but also receives run-off from the two major roads in the catchment, the A40 & M40. Along with this, there is a small sewage treatment works that discharges in to the top of the brook just below Tetsworth.
In 2015 the Environment Agency classified the Latchford Brook as “poor”, based on multiple factors. Water quality along the Haseley Brook is surprisingly classified as “high” or “good” for all measurable factors (under Water Framework Directive), except for phosphate which is classified as “bad”. This is the worst possible classification but comes as no surprise: a combination of the arable landscape, sewage treatment works and road run off is likely to be causing this result. The phosphate levels were targeted to be at “poor” by 2015, which means that this target has been missed.
You can find out more about the classification of rivers in our catchment by using the Environment Agency’s Catchment Data Explorer.
The river isn’t the only water that we are concerned with. There are multiple small waters including ponds, ditches and steams. All of which are highlighted on the map below.
Unfortunately we don’t have any volunteers monitoring this brook. You can find out more about our volunteer monitoring and how you could get involved in monitoring yourself here. Due to the poor water quality in the brook, we are really keen to have more people testing here, and we also plan on carrying out our own walkovers soon.
There are currently no groups that are working specifically on the Latchford Brook. If you would like to get involved by starting a local group in your area, then please get in touch.