Harrogate Spring Water has said it is still “exploring options” over the planned expansion of its bottling plant — almost a year on from a public consultation.
The French-owned company plans to fell trees in Rotary Wood, including some planted by schoolchildren in the 2000s, to expand its site on Harlow Moor Road.
Amid environmental concerns over the use of plastics and the loss of trees, the company held a consultation event at the Crown Hotel in Harrogate on July 13 last year.
It said afterwards it was “working on defining the plans” and would “publicly share our final plans ahead of submitting our application to Harrogate Borough Council”.
But 11 months on, it has yet to reveal its plans. Harrogate Borough Council was abolished on March 31 and replaced by North Yorkshire Council.
Asked for an update, a spokesperson for Harrogate Spring Water said:
“We are working hard exploring options to address the points raised during the course of our consultation process last year on plans to expand our production site.
“It is because we are determined to create a solution which tackles those points and delivers for the people of Harrogate, for the town and for Harrogate Spring Water that we are taking time to get it right.
“As soon as we are able to, we will share the updated scheme with the public – we plan to host a public drop-in exhibition, as well as engage with key local groups.
“We are keen to do this in as timely a manner as we can and while we are still not in a position to put a precise date on when this will take place, as soon as this situation changes, we will let everyone know.”
The firm, which is part of Danone, has had outline planning permission to expand its factory next to the Pinewoods since 2017. This means the principle of development has been established but the details have not.
Plans to extend the site by 40% were refused by Harrogate Borough Council’s planning committee in January 2021.
Harrogate Spring Water subsequently revealed it planned to submit further plans on how it intended to develop the site, which led to last year’s consultation. But nothing has yet transpired.
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Harrogate Spring Water to submit new plans to expand bottling plant soon
Harrogate Spring Water is to revert back to its original 2017 plan to expand its bottling plant — and will submit a new application soon that proposes how felled trees at Rotary Wood will be compensated for.
The company won outline planning permission to expand its premises on Harlow Moor Road by 5,500 sqm five years ago. It means the principle of development has been established but the finer details have not been agreed.
The approved 2017 plans involve the felling of some trees at Rotary Wood, a woodland behind its current site that was planted by The Rotary Club of Harrogate and local schoolchildren in the 2000s.
In January 2021 a high-profile reserved matters application that was 40% larger and looked to chop down more trees than had been agreed was turned down by Harrogate Borough Council‘s planning committee.
The application provoked a public backlash and generated a debate about how a large, successful businesses should operate in the era of climate change.
Compensation
To compensate for the loss of trees, the company offered to plant new ones, create scrubland and build a pond on private land behind RHS Harlow Carr.
But this was an offer that dismayed some councillors on the planning committee and local groups including Pinewoods Conservation Group.
Piers Forster, a professor of climate physics at the University of Leeds who lives in Harrogate published a co-authored report that said about five times more new woodland was needed to properly compensate for the loss of trees.
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Next steps
The company said in July 2021 that it was working on a brand new application and the old plan would be disregarded.
However, the company has now decided to go back to its original plan rather than going through the torturous process of starting from scratch.
But, as in 2021, it still will need councillors on the planning committee to approve a reserved matters application that deals with its appearance and crucially, how the destroyed trees at Rotary Wood will be compensated for.
The company is yet to publish exact details on how it will do this.
Consultation events
Harrogate Spring Water said in a statement that it is looking to achieve “net biodiversity gain” for the site, carry out a compensatory tree planting scheme and it will make the remaining part of Rotary Wood more accessible to the public.
A series of public consultation events will take place in June where people will get to have their say and shape the proposals.
The company said the plans would create 30 new jobs.
Richard Hall, managing director at Harrogate Spring Water, said:
“The town of Harrogate and the local community are at the heart of our business. So it is important for us to ensure that, as we look to grow, create further job opportunities and continue to support the local and regional economy, we also listen to them.
“That’s why we are now encouraging people to engage with us on this process, to give us the benefit of their views and to help shape the future of the company.
“We have a shared interest in driving prosperity for the town and creating a sustainable future for a key business that takes the Harrogate name around the UK and the world, and we hope that this process will allow us to come to a resolution which addresses people’s concerns and the town’s aspirations.”
A spokesperson for the Pinewoods Conversation Group said:
Impasse between Harrogate Spring Water and local groups continues“Whilst we are pleased that the plans for the larger site have now been dropped we are disappointed that the company still plan to progress with the original development first proposed 5 years ago. Since then, the public’s concerns around single use plastics and views on supporting the environment have strengthened substantially. This original development still has a large footprint of almost 2 acres that will see the removal of many trees and the loss of public accessible green space.
“However, we are encouraged by this new consultation and a commitment to work with us and other key stakeholders to achieve a net biodiversity gain for the site and to create more shared areas. Any replacement for land lost is a must for the local community. We would encourage all those with an interest to attend the planned events and make their views known.”
The relationship between Harrogate Spring Water and local groups is under increasing strain after what the latter described as an “unconstructive” meeting last week over plans to expand a bottling plant into the Pinewoods.
Trees in the area of Pinewoods known as Rotary Wood, which were planted by families in 2015, would be felled as part of plans by Harrogate Spring Water’s parent company Danone to expand its bottling plant.
A coalition of groups is opposed to the proposal because it fears Danone’s plans to compensate for the loss of trees are inadequate.
Members of the coalition met with representatives from Harrogate Spring Water on Wednesday last week, following earlier meetings in December, but they are yet to reach an agreement on where to plant trees to replace ones that would be lost.
The groups include Harrogate Civic Society, Harrogate and District Green Party, Pinewoods Conservation Group, Zero Carbon Harrogate, the Rotary Club of Harrogate and Duchy Residents’ Association.
Danone’s current proposals are to re-plant trees close to the site, but the local groups says this is not satisfactory as the area is not currently open to the public, unlike the woodland which will be lost.
According to members of the Pinewoods Conservation Group and Harrogate District Green Party, who were both at the meeting, the two opposing parties are no closer to reaching an agreement on where the trees should be planted, with relations now becoming increasingly strained.
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A spokesperson from Pinewoods Conservation Group said:
“Meetings over the last few weeks with the planning consultants had been a useful forum to understand and influence plans.
“However, after the recent meeting including HSWL management, it seems there is no real intent to consult or amend these plans. Our ideas on alternative sites have not been investigated and the submitted proposal is not acceptable to any of the group who have been involved.”
Rebecca Maunder from Harrogate and District Green Party called on Harrogate Spring Water to propose a better alternative for the felled trees.
She said:
“Currently, the value Harrogate Spring Water and Danone are placing on the current woodland ecology is unacceptable.”
Harrogate Spring Water declined to comment on the situation.
Harrogate Borough Council’s planning committee is expected to consider the proposals early this year.