Councillors are set to make a crunch decision today over Harrogate Spring Water’s plans to expand its bottling plant.

The Stray Ferret will be live from Harrogate’s Civic Centre bringing coverage of North Yorkshire Council's Harrogate and Knaresborough area planning committee. You can follow the live coverage of the meeting below.

Here is a recap of the saga so far:

• Harrogate Spring Water wants to expand its bottling plant on Harlow Moor Road into Rotary Wood, which would see the loss of around 500 trees.
  
• Outline permission for the scheme was granted in 2017. Today’s proposal is a reserved matters application, dealing with issues such as appearance and scale. A previous reserved matters application in 2021 was rejected.
  
• Councillors voted to defer the latest reserved matters plans at a meeting in October last year.
  
• North Yorkshire Council has recommended the six councillors on the committee approve the plans today. 
  
• Campaigners will stage protests at 1pm outside the Civic Centre.
  
• You can read the council officer's recommendation to approve the plan here.
  

3.40pm - Councillors refuse Harrogate Spring Water expansion

Councillors on the committee vote to refuse the Harrogate Spring Water expansion plan.

Reaction and analysis on the decision will follow on the Stray Ferret.

3.25pm - Scheme does not 'protect or enhance our landscape'

Cllr Hannah Gostlow says that she does not believe that the Harrogate Spring Water scheme "protects or enhances our landscape".

She adds that the design should "landscape-led".

3.20pm - A difficult situation to be in, says councillor

Cllr Peter Lacey, member of the committee, says it is a "difficult" and "complex" situation to be in.

He adds that he wants to "respect each party" in the debate, in particular Harrogate Spring Water, residents and council officers.

Cllr Lacey says that he is not satisfied that the "distribution of replacement trees" as part of the proposal is sufficient to "satisfy the criteria of local amenity".

3.15pm - 'We want to continue to grow'

Richard Hall, managing director of Harrogate Spring Water, is up next.

He says that the company has grown over the last 24 years and that it was seeking expansion of its bottling plant to allow that expansion to continue.

Mr Hall adds that he recognises that growth "can require some trade offs".

He says that the company has already committed to a 10% biodiversity net gain as part of the plan, despite not being required to do so. This includes a "public accessible woodland" to mitigate the loss of trees.

Mr Hall says the firm has also commissioned three independent surveys over the last 18 months, which show "a majority of residents recognise that this project delivers economic growth in a sustainable way".

3.05pm - 'Sufficient and robust information'

Cllr Michael Schofield, who represents Harlow and St Georges on North Yorkshire Council, which is where the bottling plant is situated, is the next speaker.

Cllr Schofield says he recognises that the application is a reserved matters proposal. But he adds that the information available before councillors is not "sufficient and robust" enough to make a confident decision.

His speech — as with the previous two — is met with applause from the public gallery.

3pm - Harrogate Town Council objection

Cllr Josie Caven, a Liberal Democrat who chairs the planning and regulation committee on Harrogate Town Council, is the next public speaker.

She reiterates the town council's objection to the application.

2.50pm - 'Do what is right'

Sarah Gibbs, of Save Rotary Wood — pictured below —  is the first public speaker.

She encourages the committee to not "underestimate the value of our woodland".

She adds:

"This has gone on for so long that you may have pressure on you to push it through. But, I implore you to do what is right, not what it is easy."

2.40pm - 'We need to make a decision today'

Cllr Haslam points out that he is still "uneasy" about the section 106 and asks whether there is a way to get more information on the agreement brought back to the committee.

Martin Grainger, head of development management at the council, says:

"The report gives detail on the section 106. I think we need to make a decision today. I would encourage members to do that."

2.35pm - Proposal has 'taken longer than normally expected'

Cllr Haslam points out that the outline application was approved in 2017, but is still awaiting final approval nine years later.

Mr Worthington says that the application "has been with us longer than a normal application", but he points out that the developer had tried to amend the outline application at one stage.

He says it has "taken longer than would normally be expected".

2.30pm - 'What are we voting on?'

Councillors ask for clarification on what they are voting on at today's committee.

Mr Worthington points out that councillors are voting on a reserved matters application, which includes considerations on access, landscaping, appearance, layout and scale.

He adds that the tree planting in the Rotary Wood is "intrinsically" linked to the landscaping consideration.

2.20pm - Expansion proposal is 'acceptable'

Mr Worthington says the proposal is considered "acceptable" and that the reasons for deferral in October 2025 have now been resolved.

Cllr Paul Haslam, vice-chair of the committee, asks council officers how they will manage and enforce the section 106 agreement with the developer.

Kelly Dawson, legal officer, says there is an "enforcement regime" under a section 106 agreement. She says there are various powers available to the council, such as injunctions, to enforce the agreement.

2.15pm - Secretary of State refuses to intervene

Mr Worthington says that since the last meeting in October 2025, Steve Reed, Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, has concluded that he will not intervene on the matter.

The Stray Ferret covered Mr Reed's decision in February, which you can read here.

This means that today's committee must decide on whether to approve the reserved matters application.

2.10pm - Council officer outlines the proposal

Council officers are now outlining Harrogate Spring Water's expansion plans.

John Worthington, development management officer at the council, says the proposal is a reserved matters application. He points out that outline approval was granted in 2017.

2pm - Meeting starts

Cllr Chris Aldred, Liberal Democrat chair of today's committee, opens the meeting.

Five councillors are present for the meeting. Cllr Robert Windass and Cllr Michael Harrison, who were due to be on the committee, are absent.

1.55pm - Busy public gallery

The public gallery is filling up as we wait for today's meeting to start.

1.50pm - More campaigner pictures

More campaigners are outside Harrogate's Civic Centre. They have also been joined by some Harrogate Town councillors.

Cllr Graham Dixon, Josie Caven and Josy Thompson, all Lib Dems, are at today's meeting.

1.45pm - "This is not right or fair"

We caught up one of the campaigners standing by the van outside Harrogate's War Memorial this lunchtime (you can find pictures below).

Arabella Cornelius said Harrogate was in danger of losing its identity as a spa town if councillors approve today's proposals.

She said:

1.40pm - A recap of the key questions

While we wait for today's meeting to begin, it's worth having a read up on the key questions facing councillors today.

The decade-long battle has generated 1,420 documents on the council’s website and well over 1,000 public comments.

But it also poses a number of questions for councillors, who will ultimately decide whether today's application is approved or not.

With that in mind, we explored what questions today's meeting throws up in a feature length article — which you can read here.

1.30pm - Campaigners gather at Civic Centre

Half an hour before proceedings are due to start and campaigners are out in force at Harrogate's Civic Centre.

Armed with banners and outfits, demonstrators are making their presence known as they wait for the meeting to begin.

1.20pm - Campaigners' message

Ahead of today's meeting, which is due to start at 2pm, campaigner's are touring a van with a message about Danone's pledges.

The van was parked up outside Harrogate's war memorial this lunchtime. You can find pictures below.

Introduction

Welcome to our live blog of today’s crunch decision on Harrogate Spring Water’s expansion plans.

Councillors on Harrogate and Knaresborough area planning committee will meet at 2pm at Harrogate Civic Centre to decide on the proposals, which have proved controversial ever since they were submitted five years ago.

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 the council.

However, the company, which is owned by French 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 and the local economy.

The proposals have been met with opposition from campaigners and Harrogate and Knaresborough MP Tom Gordon, who says there are "clear planning grounds upon which to refuse the application".

One of the opponents' key objections is that the plan would “destroy valuable public green space that forms part of the Pinewoods and wider Harrogate green corridor”.

This is the second time in six months the committee is meeting to make adjudicate on the plan after a previous committee deferred the decision in October 2025.

You can read up on the key questions facing today's committee in our article here.

Here are the councillors due to be on today's committee:

• Cllr Chris Aldred, chair of the committee
  
• Cllr Paul Haslam, vice-chair of the committee
  
• Cllr Philip Broadbank
  
• Cllr Hannah Gostlow
  
• Cllr Robert Windass
  
• Cllr Peter Lacey
  
• Cllr Michael Harrison