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Bristol swimmers campaign for river bathing rights

Becca Blease Campaigners outside Bristol City Council's officesBecca Blease
Dozens on campaigners backed Ms Blease's petition

Wild swimming campaigners donned swimming trunks and bathing suits as they backed a petition calling on a bylaw to be scrapped.

Conham Bathers want Bristol City Council to revoke the 2009 rule which prohibits swimming in the River Avon.

If removed campaigners say it would allow swimming and require the Environment Agency to monitor the river's water quality.

The council previously said it could not support the request.

The council - which owns the land the river sits on - has also said there is a right to navigation along the stretch of the River Avon, meaning that swimming would carry a "significant risk" from boats.

A campaign outside the council chamber
Removing the bylaw would allow the river's water quality to be better monitored

But speaking to the BBC on Tuesday, Becca Blease, the petition's creator, said she was "really impressed how positively" councillors received it after she spoke to them at a meeting earlier that day.

More than 5,200 people signed the petition before it closed in August.

Ms Blease said "every single political party was in favour" and she would receive a letter from mayor Marvin Rees about his decision on whether to keep the bylaw.

The masters student and research impact consultant said she would share the result once known.

Ms Blease, who lives in Ashley Down, has been campaigning for the bylaw's removal since November 2020 - around the time she moved to Bristol and started swimming in the river.

A report released last month accused the Environment Agency of letting water firms "get away" with polluting the country's rivers.

Dozens of swimmers backed the petition in Bristol on Tuesday
Dozens of swimmers backed the petition in Bristol on Tuesday
Becca Blease Becca BleaseBecca Blease
Ms Blease said the petition was positively received by councillors

The campaign has had vocal backing, and dozens of swimmers danced on College Green in an event called Rave on for the Avon while Ms Blease gave her speech in the council's chamber.

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Ms Blease grew up in the Wye Valley and has been kayaking and wild swimming for much of her life.

It was only after the first Covid lockdown that she started doing it throughout the winter after she felt it "boosted my mood and connection to nature".

Dozens of swimmers backed the petition in Bristol on Tuesday
More than 5,000 people signed the petition before it closed in August
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