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31
Oct
Councillor calls on Harrogate Spring Water to submit fresh plans
A Green councillor has requested Harrogate Spring Water be required to submit a new planning application because its plans have changed so much since they were first submitted in 2016.
The company, which is owned by French multinational Danone, resubmitted plans this month to expand the bottling plant at its headquarters on Harlow Moor Road.
This would mean felling 500 trees in a section of the Pinewoods known as Rotary Wood at the back of its headquarters.
A 21-day public consultation on its plans is due to end on November 15 but Cllr Arnold Warneken, who represents Ouseburn on North Yorkshire Council, said this was not long enough, particularly as there had been numerous “modifications and revisions” to the scheme,
He said:
In isolation these could be classed as minor but accumulatively they are in my humble opinion significant.
I am now requesting that North Yorkshire Council planning, rather than just allow this process to continue with the latest revisions and amendments which are even further away from the original plans, request Harrogate Spring Water to submit a new application to the authority encompassing all changes.
Cllr Warneken’s email to the council highlights seven examples of how the company’s design and access statements, which describe its plans, had been revised over the last eight years.
They include how the size of the proposed building has increased from 4,800 square metres to 5,458 square metres. He also cited changes to landscaping and public access, tree strategy and community engagement, amongst others, as areas that had crept from the original plans.
Cllr Warneken told the Stray Ferret he acknowledged the plans had changed partly in response to public concerns and some might even argue the latest ones are better, but added:
Given the changes are significant, maybe it’s time for the public to have a voice on all the changes rather than a piecemeal way.
'Positive amendments to address concerns'
Asked to comment on Cllr Warneken’s request, a spokesperson for Harrogate Spring Water said:
The amendment of a scheme and its design is commonplace in planning applications and in no way impacts upon the principle of the development or the approved outline planning application. Normal process has been followed. Therefore, there are no grounds for an entire new application.
Following extensive consultation with stakeholders, the public and council officers we have amended elements such as the design of the building and landscaping. This has been in direct response to the feedback we have received. These changes, including the addition of new publicly accessible space, are positive amendments to address concerns raised.
The principle of the development, to expand our facility, was established with the granting of outline planning permission. As is the norm, this occurred with the details of the scale, layout, external appearance and landscaping needing to be approved through a subsequent reserved matters application.
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