Councillors have refused controversial plans for Harrogate Spring Water to expand its bottling plant.

The expansion would have meant the loss of around 500 trees in Rotary Wood, an area of community woodland planted around 20 years ago and owned by the council.

The company, which is owned by food and drink multinational Danone, said almost 3,000 new trees would be planted to make up for those lost due to the expansion and the scheme would boost jobs and the local economy.

Campaigners have long argued that the move will “destroy valuable public green space that forms part of the Pinewoods and wider Harrogate green corridor”.

Outline permission for the scheme was granted in 2017 and today’s proposal was a reserved matters application, dealing with issues such as appearance and scale.

However, councillors on Harrogate and Knaresborough area constituency planning committee today (April 17) unanimously voted to refuse the plans.

'Inadequate and unacceptable'

After a meeting which lasted an hour and 45 minutes, councillors said they found the landscaping and appearance of the plans to be “inadequate” and “unacceptable”.

During the meeting, Richard Hall, managing director of Harrogate Spring Water, told the committee that the company had grown over the last 24 years and that it was seeking expansion of its bottling plant to allow that expansion to continue.

He added that the company has already committed to a 10% biodiversity net gain as part of the plan, despite not being required to do so. This includes a "public accessible woodland" to mitigate the loss of trees.

Mr Hall told the committee that the firm had also resolved concerns raised by councillors at the previous meeting in October 2025.

However, councillors raised concern over the landscaping and appearance of the expansion.

Cllr Peter Lacey, Liberal Democrat member of the committee, said he was not satisfied that the "distribution of replacement trees" as part of the proposal was sufficient to "satisfy the criteria of local amenity”.

Meanwhile, Liberal Democrat Cllr Hannah Gostlow said she did not believe that the Harrogate Spring Water scheme protected or enhanced the landscape.

She added that the design lacked “local distinctiveness” and was unacceptable to be situated in a public woodland.

Councillors on the committee voted unanimously to reject the plans on the grounds that the landscaping, in particular the replacement of trees, was inadequate to mitigate the loss of existing plants and habitats and the appearance was “considered unacceptable for its setting within a special landscape area”.

'Welcome but temporary reprieve'

Following the meeting, Tom Gordon, Liberal Democrat MP for Harrogate and Knaresborough, welcomed the decision.

Mr Gordon, who had previously objected to expansion, said today’s decision was a “welcome but temporary reprieve”.

He said:

You can recap on all our coverage from today's meeting in our live blog here.