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25
Oct 2024
Harrogate Spring Water expansion plans: Managing director and MP clash
Harrogate Spring Water’s managing director Richard Hall has said the company is “disappointed” not to have secured the support of the town’s MP for its expansion plans.
The company wants to fell about 500 trees in the Pinewoods at the back of its headquarters on Harlow Moor Road in Harrogate to create space to expand its bottling plant.
Shortly after its final plans were submitted to North Yorkshire Council last week, Harrogate and Knaresborough MP Tom Gordon issued a statement saying he opposed the scheme.
Liberal Democrat Mr Gordon accused the company of of doing “the bare minimum” for the environment and said the firm, which is part of French multinational Danone, “need to go further and should be trying to give back to the town whose name it uses”.
This prompted Mr Hall to say he wanted to “restate the facts” following Mr Gordon’s comments.
He said:
Our revised plans mean that there will be no loss of woodland. We will create a new area of community woodland, connected to Rotary Wood and the Pinewoods, the same size as the plot we propose to use to expand our premises. This new woodland will be subject to a Section 106 agreement to ensure it is publicly accessible to all.
'Best-in-class plan'
Harrogate Spring Water plans to create a community woodland and plant more trees elsewhere to compensate for the 500 trees that would be chopped down in the section of the Pinewoods known as Rotary Wood, which was planted by schoolchildren in 2005 to combat climate change.
Its latest plans would see it plant about 3,000 trees as compensation, which means the lost trees would be replaced on a ratio of 6:1.
Mr Hall added:
We took Mr Gordon through our plans for the new community woodland and our tree planting programme during his recent visit to our site.
We believe that this is a best-in-class plan to deliver business growth while also investing to minimise environmental impact. We note that in their most recent submission to the council, in which they state they are not opposing the application, Harrogate Rotary Club has stated that Harrogate Spring Water has ‘gone above and beyond’ to ensure that any loss of trees and amenity for the public will be compensated for by the new public woodland.
It is disappointing that Mr Gordon has chosen to oppose our plans for sustainable development, plans which will create employment and significant benefits for the whole town.
Asked whether Mr Hall’s comments had changed his mind, Mr Gordon said he still did not support the plans, and had yet to find anyone who did. He added:
It should not come as a surprise that chopping down much-loved woodland, that was planted by school children to prevent climate change, is unpopular with local residents.
Below we have published Mr Gordon’s initial statement in full followed by Mr Hall’s response.
Harrogate Spring Water received outline planning permission for the expansion in 2017, which means the principle of development has been established. But its current reserved matters application, which deals with appearance, size and landscaping, needs to be approved by councillors before the scheme can proceed.
Councillors rejected a previous reserved matters application in 2021 after a campaign fronted by TV star Julia Bradbury. The latest application could come to the council’s planning committee before the end of the year.
Tom Gordon’s statement on October 22
Harrogate Spring Water should be looking to invest in the town not just by providing jobs and trees, but by creating a larger area that local residents can come and enjoy, so that those who aren’t working for them actually benefit from the expansion. How can they expect anyone to support their plan when it only takes away from the town?
I’m not supporting these plans. The bare minimum when it comes to the environment simply isn’t good enough. Harrogate Spring Water need to go further and should be trying to give back to the town whose name it uses. More woodland would give people the chance to go out and enjoy nature. If they want to do their part for the environment, they should be taking steps to utilise more glass, and create a bottle deposit return scheme, which would also show us that Harrogate Spring Water actually care about the town, rather than just making money.
Richard Hall’s statement on October 23
Following the statement from Tom Gordon MP concerning our plans to expand our operations in the town, we’d like to take the opportunity to restate the facts of our application, which was developed following extensive consultation with local stakeholders and responds to their concerns.
Our revised plans mean that there will be no loss of woodland. We will create a new area of community woodland, connected to Rotary Wood and the Pinewoods, the same size as the plot we propose to use to expand our premises. This new woodland will be subject to a Section 106 agreement to ensure it is publicly accessible to all.
Regarding tree numbers, we have committed to being guided by experts throughout this process. That is why, at the request of North Yorkshire Council’s own arboriculturist, the tree planting programme has been revised. It will see fewer but more mature trees planted in the new community woodland in order allow the new woodland to flourish and grow.
However, because we know the commitment we made to plant a certain number of trees is important, we have publicly confirmed that we will increase the planting we do across additional sites in Harrogate from 1,500 to approximately 2,300. Our entire planting programme will see six times as many trees planted in Harrogate as are lost during the building process.
We took Mr Gordon through our plans for the new community woodland and our tree planting programme during his recent visit to our site.
We believe that this is a best-in-class plan to deliver business growth while also investing to minimise environmental impact. We note that in their most recent submission to the Council, in which they state they are not opposing the application, Harrogate Rotary Club has stated that Harrogate Spring Water has ‘gone above and beyond’ to ensure that any loss of trees and amenity for the public will be compensated for by the new public woodland.
In regard to our broader commitments, Harrogate Spring Water has been a certified B Corporation since 2020 – the first company in North Yorkshire to achieve the independent certification for companies achieving high standards on social and environmental impact.
We hold the international standard, ISO 14001:2015, for Environmental Management and spearheaded the successful closed-loop recycling system at Ascot Racecourse.
Harrogate Spring Water and parent group Danone are strong & public supporters of the introduction of a consistent and unified national Deposit Return Scheme in the UK and are working with industry and government to put such a system in place.
Our success as a business is rooted in the town of Harrogate, its history and its people. We are immensely proud to host our town’s name above our door and to share its famous water with people all over the world. It is disappointing that Mr Gordon has chosen to oppose our plans for sustainable development, plans which will create employment and significant benefits for the whole town.
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