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19
Jun
Harrogate Spring Water’s Killinghall borehole moves step closer
Harrogate Spring Water’s plans to create a borehole in Killinghall have moved a step closer.
The Stray Ferret revealed last year the company, which is part of French multinational Danone, had applied to the Environment Agency for an abstraction licence at High Warren Farm.
It subsequently applied to North Yorkshire Council for planning permission to create a borehole, pumphouse, landscaping, associated hardstanding and new access with lorry pull-in area onto Otley Road.
Those plans were approved subject to conditions in March.
Now several of the conditions, including those relating to an environmental assessment and highway drainage, have been granted, paving the way for groundwork to begin.
In planning documents, council case officer Izabelle Waddington said:
Harrogate Spring Water currently uses three boreholes one of which has naturally high levels of iron and manganese. The site has been testing a number of alternative borehole locations in the area surrounding the site and a number have been ruled out due to water volume and quality. The borehole located off Otley Road to the south of High Warren Farm has been found to supply a suitable quality of water and the required volume.
The new borehole water supply will allow the existing factory borehole extraction rate to be substantially reduced and repurposed for other uses. The new borehole will help the site to continue to deliver between 24,000 and 36,000 bottles of water per hour to their customers whilst also delivering a water efficient benefit, resulting in less water from the site being wasted. It is therefore considered that there is a proven need for the development in terms of the continued operation of the business. The proposed development is also considered to be required outside of the curtilage of the existing employment site due to the nature of the business.
The scale of the development is minimal and will be read with the existing development at High Warren Farm. Areas of landscaping have been added into the site to soften the visual impact of the hardstanding areas and gravel pathways.
High Warren Farm is about three miles from Harrogate Spring Water’s bottling plant on Harlow Moor Road in Harrogate. The firm is creating a pipeline to transfer the water — a project that requires roadworks.
Harrogate Spring Water has outline planning permission to expand its plant but councillors refused its subsequent reserved matters application for a second time this year, amid concerns about the felling of 500 trees, meaning the scheme is currently unable to proceed.
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