Stephen Fry supports action on state of the River Gaywood

Celebrity actor and author Stephen Fry has signed and shared a petition from Extinction Rebellion (XR) King's Lynn to ask the Environment Agency to restore the River Gaywood in West Norfolk to full health.

He called chalk streams such as the Gaywood "a fragile but boundlessly precious asset".

Mr Fry, who lives in West Bilney, has joined over 370 others in calling for the Environment Agency (EA) to fully investigating what has happened to our beautiful chalk stream, and then take the action needed to restore it to its former glory.

The Gaywood River is a chalk stream, one of only about 200 in the world, a precious wildlife habitat, and until recently was home to wild brown trout.

It runs through Lynn and meanders through The Walks, where it should provide the opportunity for thousands of people to get closer to nature.

Instead, say XR, it is brown and murky, and the algae overgrowth, dead plants and signs of sewage fungus in the river strongly suggests it is being polluted somewhere along its length.

Organisers of the petition claim the EA are aware of the problem but are not taking urgent action.

Robert Shippey, of Downham, who started the petition said: "I'm so pleased that Stephen Fry has joined us in calling for action to restore the river. He uses his status to support good causes, and we should all be inspired to do what we can."