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16
Oct
Protest planned over Harrogate Spring Water factory expansion
A protest is set to be held against the proposed expansion of the Harrogate Spring Water bottling plant as a decision on the controversial plan looms.
Campaigners are planning a peaceful protest when councillors meet this month to decide the proposal to increase the size of the plant in Harlow Moor Road, Harrogate.
The expansion would mean the loss of around 500 trees in Rotary Wood, an area of community woodland planted around 20 years ago and owned by North Yorkshire Council.
But the company, which is owned by food and drink multinational Danone, says almost 3,000 new trees will be planted to make up for those lost due to the expansion and the scheme will boost jobs abd the local economy.
The expansion is due to be decided by North Yorkshire Council’s Harrogate and Knaresborough area planning committee on October 28.
Community group Save Rotary Wood Again has announced plans for a peaceful “tree-themed” protest ahead of the meeting at the Civic Centre in Harrogate.
Sarah Gibbs, from the group, said:
This can’t slip by while no one’s watching. If you care about our precious woodland, come and join us.
The move comes as Harrogate Spring Water agreed this week to drop a strapline from its marketing after a claim was made to the Advertising Standards Authority.
The strapline ‘since 1571’ – which refers to the year Harrogate’s spring water was first recognised as being special by William Slingsby – was at the heart of one of three complaints the Pinewoods Conservation Group (PCG) made to the standards watchdog, which issued a summary of the “informally resolved case” on Wednesday.
In its response, the ASA said of the ‘1571’ claim:
We considered that the presentation of some of these claims were likely to mislead because they gave the impression that the company had been in existence since that time.
Harrogate Spring Water was actually founded in 2002.
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