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22
Oct
Tom Gordon MP opposes Harrogate Spring Water’s expansion plans
Harrogate and Knaresborough MP Tom Gordon has said he opposes Harrogate Spring Water’s revised plans to expand its bottling plant.
Harrogate Spring Water submitted its updated plans to North Yorkshire Council this month.
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 at the back of its headquarters on Harlow Moor Road to make space for the expansion.
It has said it will create a new community woodland elsewhere and replace any trees lost on a 3:1 ratio.
But Liberal Democrat Mr Gordon said today this was not enough. He said Harrogate Spring Water should go ‘above and beyond’ replacing the trees by doing more for the town.
Mr Gordon said:
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.
Harrogate Spring Water, which has said the scheme will create 50 jobs plus 20 more during construction, received a boost last week when the Rotary Club of Harrogate said it would not oppose the latest plans.
The charity encouarged local children to get involved in the tree-planting exercise in 2005 to combat climate change.
Past president David Hayes said the club would “prefer Rotary Wood to be left alone” but added this was unlikely and Harrogate Spring Water had “gone above and beyond in ensuring that any loss of trees and amenity for the public will be adequately compensated by their acquisition of additional land for new tree planting and construction of interconnecting footpaths, and above all by entering into a Section 106 agreement to safeguard the future use of the additional land”.
Mr Gordon's comments today use the same 'above and beyond' phrase but reached an entirely different conclusion.
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.
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