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11
Nov
Campaigners meet to find way forward in fight against Harrogate Spring Water's expansion plans
Anger and hope were the principal emotions on display at a public meeting about Harrogate Spring Water’s expansion plans last week.
More than 60 people gave up their Friday evening and braved the damp weather to pack into the Green Hut community centre on Harlow Hill for the meeting, which had been called by Harrogate and Knaresborough Liberal Democrat MP Tom Gordon.
Attendees voiced every kind of objection to the company’s expansion plans, from “thundering” lorries to plastic waste, as well as the loss of biodiversity resulting from the destruction of Rotary Wood, which was planted 20 years ago by local schoolchildren.
The list of grievances was started by Mr Gordon, who complained about the “underhand tactics” employed by Harrogate Spring Water in releasing a survey the week before last month's planning decision, that suggested more than 70% of local people had a positive impression of the plans – a move he said “kicked a hornets’ nest for me”.
He contrasted that poll with one carried out by local company Suffrago, which indicated that 86% of local residents disagree with the plant expansion.
He said:
In the run-up to the general election and since, we’ve spoken to literally tens of thousands of people, and I can probably count on one hand the number of people I’ve met who are supportive of the plans.
'Greenwashing'
Cllr Arnold Warneken, the Green Party member who represents the Ouseburn division on North Yorkshire Council, warned people not to be seduced by Harrogate Spring Water’s assurances that six trees would be planted for every one cut down.
He said:
No matter how many trees you plant to replace the ones you’ve cut down, you cannot introduce overnight all that wildlife – the flora, fauna and fungi. It’s all of that that contributes to this community’s well-being when they go to Rotary Wood – not just trees, and certainly not just saplings.
Nowadays you get developments from some green-thinking companies, and they’ll go to 65% biodiversity net gain, not just be pushed and pushed to 10%. It’s not a genuine position – it's greenwashing.
Empty aquifer?
There were audible gasps in the room when Neil Hind, of Pinewoods Conservation Group, said he thought the aquifer beneath Harrogate Spring Water’s plant was empty.
It was a tentative conclusion based on extraction data revealed by a freedom of information request, but Mr Hind later rowed back on it, saying it might not be empty, and that he had requested updated figures.
The Stray Ferret asked Danone, the French multinational that owns Harrogate Spring Water, whether the aquifer is empty, and also requested the most recent extraction figures.
A spokesperson told us that the company was still abstracting from all its aquifers, continuously monitors the levels in the aquifers, and that it had have not seen a drop in water levels, even through the hot dry summer.
They added:
Harrogate Spring Water remains well within its licensed abstraction limits for the current supply. We are committed to responsible water stewardship and operate under strict regulatory controls and sustainable extraction limits set by the Environment Agency, with regular monitoring to safeguard local water resources.
Rotary Wood in Harrogate.
'Not stopping the fight'
Cllr Mike Schofield, an independent who represents Harlow & St Georges on North Yorkshire Council, highlighted the work of some of the campaigners who have dedicated themselves to the cause since Harrogate Spring Water was first granted outline planning permission to expand in 2017.
Referring to Harrogate Spring Water’s boreholes at Oakdale Bridge and Killinghall, he said:
This company is taking from every other part of the town – where will they stop? Once a ‘machine’ like this gets going, they don’t stop until they’ve had what they want.
But the people who have been working so hard [on this campaign] are not going to stop. Sarah [Gibbs] has poured her heart and soul into it.
When the applause for her had died down, Ms Gibbs, a campaigner who has often dressed up as a tree to demonstrate against the plant extension, said:
I certainly am not stopping this fight, even if I’m standing on my own in the snow again.
We need to have lawyers to look at this, but I think there might be legitimate reasons to get the outline planning permission revoked.
Facts needed
Again, this brought applause, and one woman, whose anger appeared to be shared by many, added:
If this was housing, after three years [the planning consent] would be kicked into touch. Why does that not apply here? Why does North Yorkshire Council continue to allow them to have that outline planning?
Another contributor, who said he had sat on three different planning committees, highlighted the fact that the reserved matters planning application for the bottling plant had been deferred two weeks ago in part due to a lack of ecological information, and suggested that this might provide a possible route through the planning minefield.
He said:
Without an environmental impact statement, we cannot bring in the likes of the Environment Agency or Yorkshire Water to comment on the aquifer. That’s really imperative.
If we get that and it comes out negative, that is justification for refusing. But we cannot do it on the basis that someone thinks the woodland’s nice – we've got to stick to the facts.
The importance of a fact-based campaign was emphasised by several speakers. Cllr Schofield said:
Does Harrogate want to be the plastic capital of Yorkshire – or England, or Britain? No, it doesn’t!
We’re going to get to a point where Harrogate Spring Water are going to be doing Harrogate itself an injustice and causing more harm to the name of Harrogate than they’re bringing with any kind of money they give per bottle.
We need to get this stopped, and the only way to stop it is through facts.
Mr Gordon also said that, even if the campaign failed and the planning application was ultimately approved, that might not be the end of the matter. He noted that in that scenario there would be a six-week window when the owner of Rotary Wood, North Yorkshire Council, would have to invite bids for the land, since it has been declared an asset of community value (ACV).
That would potentially enable community campaigners to raise the funds to buy the wood from under Harrogate Spring Water’s nose.
But he warned:
For all intents and purposes, we’re up against a big, well-funded, well-organised, well-resourced multinational, who it appears will do what they want whenever they want and try and push it through regardless. That’s what we’re all facing here.
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