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14
Apr
Breaking: Harrogate Spring Water planning meeting to go ahead this week
Campaigners’ pleas to postpone the meeting that will determine whether Harrogate Spring Water can fell 500 trees in order to expand have been rejected.
North Yorkshire Council announced on April 9 that its Harrogate and Knaresborough planning committee will meet on April 17 to determine the company’s planning application.
Opponents claimed the decision to give just eight days’ notice of one of the most contentious planning meetings in Harrogate’s recent history was undemocratic and avoided scrutiny.
Councillor Chris Aldred, a Liberal Democrat who chairs the council’s Harrogate and Knaresborough planning committee, said he was “sympathetic” to the concerns and asked planning officers to look into pushing the date back.
But Cllr Aldred told the Stray Ferret this evening (April 14) he had just received the following response from the council’s head of planning.
Following concerns expressed relating to the timing of the meeting on Friday we have sought legal advice on whether it would be possible to postpone and reinstate for a later date.
Given the agenda has been published we have been advised that this is not possible, and the meeting will need to proceed as arranged.
The move gives campaigners just three days to rally supporters ahead of the meeting at Harrogate Civic Centre.
Council planning officer John Worthington has recommended councillors approve the scheme.
Harrogate Spring Water, which is part of French multinational Danone, says the project would create 50 jobs and pump £17 million a year into the northern economy.
The company has also pledged to plant 3,000 trees to compensate for the loss of the 500 in Rotary Wood.
But it has faced huge public opposition.
The company’s latest planning application has received 1,076 objections and only 12 expressions of support, which means 98.78% oppose it.
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