A fishing organisation has heavily criticised a controversial decision to allow a hydropower development on the River Thames in Abingdon.

Members of the Angling Trust have reacted angrily to the news the Environment Agency has approved an application without what they say is any meaningful protection for fish and fishing.

Mark Lloyd, chief executive of the trust, said: “The agency should be standing up for fish and fishing, not waving through inadequate applications which have no monitoring in place.”

Dave Wales and Richard Knowles, of the Upper Thames Fisheries Consultative, said: “The Environment Agency has done everything possible to ensure that all hydropower applications are approved – despite the damage to the ecology of the river.”

Environment Agency spokesman Caroline Juby said: “The scale of this particular scheme does not require a full environmental impact assessment and it would be unreasonable to expect the developers to do this.”