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31
Jan
Call for Harrogate Spring Water plans to be rejected amid fresh concerns
Pinewoods Conservation Group has called for Harrogate Spring Water’s expansion plans to be rejected amid new concerns.
The company, which is owned by French multi-national Danone, wants to fell 500 trees in a section of the Pinewoods known as Rotary Wood to expand its Harlow Moor Road bottling plant.
Harrogate Spring Water says the scheme will boost the local economy and a proposed community woodland would compensate for the loss of trees.
But North Yorkshire Council, which owns the land and will determine the planning application, has received 1,013 objections and just 11 expressions of support.
Most organisations and individuals have had their say during the public consultation. But Pinewoods Conservation Group, a charity that looks after the 96-acre woodland on the edge of Harrogate, has yet to respond.
But a spokesperson told the Stray Ferret the latest plans “are still not good enough” and called for the council to reject them.
Their comments came after the latest three consultee reports from council officers all raised concerns.
Principal ecologist Dan McAndrew, environment and design manager Jillian Rann and arboriculturalist Alan Gilleard all said they were still awaiting further information and clarification. None formally objected, however.
The Pinewoods Conservation Group spokesperson said:
The reports from the council officers supports our views that the revised plans are still not good enough. Danone always committed to doing more than was needed, and ensuring a positive biodiversity gain but have failed to do so after several tries.
It is clear that when these plans are fully scrutinised, they fall well short of giving any reasonable recompense to Harrogate residents and its wildlife for the loss of this woodland. We are now into the ninth year of this application and suspect its finally time for the council to reject this application in full.
Harrogate Spring Water's headquarters.
'Broadly positive'
A spokesperson for Harrogate Spring Water responded:
It is perfectly normal as part of the standard process for any planning application for points to be raised by statutory consultees that are then addressed by the applicant.
The three consultees cited by Pinewoods are awaiting further information and clarification on some technical points which they have raised. Other than that, their responses are broadly positive, and we believe addressing their concerns will enable them to remove their objections and support the scheme.
We also note that the responses state that our proposed development will have no significant impact on protected species, including bats, and that it would not be reasonable to refuse planning permission for the reserved matters application on the basis of tree loss on the site, a loss which we are compensating for by planting six times as many trees in replacement, next to the site and elsewhere in Harrogate.
We are in the process of providing additional information and making some amendments to our application and hope to submit them in the coming weeks to respond to the consultees’ comments.
The Pinewoods
A long-running saga
Harrogate Spring Water was granted outline planning permission for the development in 2017, which means the principle of the development has been established.
But it still requires its reserved matters planning application, which relates to the appearance, size and landscaping of the development, to be approved by the council before it can proceed.
A previous reserved matters application was rejected in 2021 following a campaign fronted by TV star Julia Bradbury.
Harrogate and Knaresborough Liberal Democrat MP Tom Gordon is among those objecting to the latest plans.
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