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28
Oct
Could land sale torpedo Harrogate Spring Water’s expansion plans?
Community groups could be given the chance to buy the hotly contested piece of land on which Harrogate Spring Water wants to expand.
North Yorkshire Council will decide today (October 28) whether to approve the company’s plans to extend its bottling factory further into the 96-acre Pinewoods.
The seven councillors on the Liberal Democrat-controlled Harrogate and Knaresborough area planning committee will decide whether to accept council case officer Gerard Walsh’s recommendation to approve the scheme.
But even if they do, that won't be the end of the matter.
The council would then have to sell the land, which it owns, to Harrogate Spring Water, which is owned by French multinational Danone.
The council has already designated the Pinewoods an asset of community value because of how much it is used and valued by the community. This means it must consult with the community before any land is sold.
Mr Walsh’s report says:
Were the council minded to dispose of this land there would be a six-week moratorium period where the council could not dispose of it and this would be publicised in the press. If, during this moratorium period, a written request to be treated as a potential bidder were received from a local community interest group, then a full moratorium period of six months would apply.
This gives local community groups the opportunity to put an offer together and place a bid. The asset cannot be sold during this time unless it is to a local community interest group. It is open to the local planning authority to decide that listing as an asset of community value is a material consideration in this case.
How the proposed extension would look.
The Conservative-led coalition government introduced assets of community value in the 2011 Localism Act, which aimed to devolve decision making from government to local people.
The last line of Mr Walsh’s report indicates that the council will be able to determine whether the Pinewoods’ listing as an asset of community value “is a material consideration in this case” — in other words, it could decide to ignore it.
But if it does, the Tory-run council could face criticism for failing to implement a key part of Conservative legislation on an issue of huge public concern.
About 500 trees planted by schoolchildren in a section of the Pinewoods known as Rotary Wood would be felled to make space for an expanded factory to produce more bottled water. About 3,000 trees would be planted elsewhere to mitigate the loss.
The planning application has received 1,068 objections and just 11 expressions of support.
Harrogate Spring Water's headquarters on Harlow Moor Road.
An eight-year battle
Community organisations are reluctant to discuss bidding to buy the land while the planning application remains undecided. But the Stray Ferret understands a bid is likely to be submitted if the scheme is approved today.
The council would then have to set a value for the land — and although it would not be obliged to sell it if the funds are raised, the optics of turning it down could be tricky.
It would also need to run a public consultation on the loss of green space.
It is eight years since Harrogate Spring Water received outline planning permission to expand. It still requires its subsequent reserved matters planning application to be approved before it can proceed. Its previous reserved matters application was rejected in 2021 following a campaign fronted by TV star Julia Bradbury.
But even if approval is granted, the issue will rumble on.
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