Harrogate Spring Water expansion to be decided

The council will decided whether Harrogate Spring Water can expand into Rotary Wood on Tuesday

A decision is expected to be made on controversial plans to expand a bottling factory into community woodland in Harrogate later.

North Yorkshire Council will debate Harrogate Spring Water's application to extend the site on Harlow Moor Road, which would result in the loss of around 500 trees in Rotary Wood.

The company's managing director Richard Hall has pledged it will plant six times more trees than would be lost and urged people to "take a step back and see the big picture".

However, critics, including the town's MP, claim the plan will result in the loss of "mature, thriving woodland" and have called on councillors to reject the application.

The firm was granted outline planning permission to expand in 2017 and submitted a reserved matters application in 2020.

Since then, a number of revisions have been made to the plans, which have attracted over 1,000 comments and objections.

Harrogate Spring Water, which is owned by food and drink multinational Danone, said it had listened to feedback, particularly around the loss of accessible woodland.

Mr Hall said the recent application includes a contractual agreement with a landowner to purchase two acres of land next to the plant to replace "like for like" the woodland that would be lost.

Sarah Gibbs said the woods had been "planted by the community, for the community"

Lily Stockburn was a schoolchild when she helped to plant trees in the woodland as part of a community-based project.

She said the fact some trees might be lost was "sad and disappointing".

"It's an amazing feeling to know that I helped plant some of these trees [but] it's sad that maybe my child won't be able to come here," she said.

Sarah Gibbs, from the group Save Rotary Wood, said the expansion would "uproot" efforts for a more sustainable future through the loss of "a more than 20-year-old mature, thriving woodland".

"No amount of marketing speech or saplings planted on privately-owned land can compensate our Asset of Community Value woodland," she said.

"We're here now because we see the bigger picture - we see the climate emergency; we see the community speaking up to save their woods."

Lily Stockburn (centre) helped to plant the trees when she was a schoolchild, with grandmother Tracey Hardisty (left) and mother Rowan Hardisty

Speaking to the Local Democracy Reporting Service, Mr Hall called the application "a really interesting development for the town" and said it would create 50 new jobs and 20 in construction.

"This is a nice local business that's expanding and will be offering jobs and skills," he said.

"And of course we need to do that responsibly, and that's where we had some feedback and opposition, and we've responded to that.

"But let's step back for a minute and think about the big picture. We want development in North Yorkshire and this is an opportunity."

Chris Whapples, chair of Harrogate Rotary Club, which planted the wood 20 years ago, said they thought the firm's compensation package to plant trees was "very good" but they had opted to take a neutral position on the application.

"We can't condone cutting down trees, but we don't want to be against progress in the town," he said.

The town's MP Tom Gordon said he opposed Harrogate Spring Water's expansion plans

The bottled water company said it had commissioned a survey of 200 Harrogate residents, which found 71% of those who expressed an opinion looked on the scheme favourably.

However, the town's Liberal Democrat MP Tom Gordon has called for "full transparency" after a survey conducted through Suffrago on the same issue attracted 500 comments in 24 hours.

According to the polling platform, 85% of the respondents opposed the plans.

"Local people deserve the truth - not spin," Gordon said.

"Losing woodland at a time when we have a climate emergency for production of plastic bottled water is not a good use of that space."

He said more apprenticeships in the town would be welcome but said the proposals would also add to road congestion and impact residents.

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