Campaigners fighting Harrogate Spring Water’s plans to expand its bottling factory are distributing 10,000 leaflets urging people to donate to a £50,000 fighting fund ahead of a planning appeal.

The company announced last month that it would appeal North Yorkshire Council’s decision to reject its plans to expand the factory on Harlow Moor Road.

The Planning Inspectorate will now decide whether the scheme can go ahead, with a hearing expected to take place in Harrogate next year.

The Save Rotary Wood campaign group hopes to raise £50,000 to fund its participation in the process.

Sarah Gibbs, who has led the campaign for six years, handed out leaflets to supporters at Harrogate’s Friends Meeting House last night (October 12). The leaflets are being delivered to homes today.

Ms Gibbs told the Stray Ferret that donations would ensure the community's voice and the case for protecting Rotary Wood would be heard at the appeal.

She added the donations, which would cover legal fees and advice, will be collected through Pinewoods Conservation Group, the charity responsible for protecting the 96-acre woodland that would be affected by the expansion.

Fellow campaigner Matt Jacobs said: 

Ms Gibbs is also organising a Halloween fundraising event at Born of the Forest, a forest school in Follifoot, on October 31.

Why is the expansion controversial?

Harrogate Spring Water, part of French multinational Danone, wants to double the number of production lines at its factory from two to four.

The expansion would require the felling of 500 trees in Rotary Wood, a section of the Pinewoods behind the factory.

The company says the development would create 50 jobs and contribute £2.3 million a year to the local economy. It has also pledged to plant 3,000 trees elsewhere to offset the loss.

However, campaigners have raised concerns about the destruction of semi-mature woodland planted by children as part of efforts to tackle climate change. The plans have also attracted criticism because the expansion would increase production capacity for plastic bottles.

Harrogate Borough Council granted outline planning permission for the development in 2017. However, North Yorkshire Council rejected the company’s subsequent reserved matters application, which set out the details of the scheme, in April.

Harrogate Spring Water had six months to appeal the decision. Last month, managing director Richard Hall confirmed that the company would challenge the refusal.