The woman behind a campaign to stop Harrogate Spring Water’s expansion into Rotary Wood has launched a crowdfunder to raise money for site surveys, monitoring equipment and printing flyers.

The Danone-owned water company has lodged plans with North Yorkshire Council to expand its bottling plant on Harlow Moor Road.

The planning application is expected to be considered by Harrogate and Knaresborough councillors this year.

The firm says a bigger factory will mean it can create 50 new jobs and boost economic output by around £2.3m a year to £6.2m a year.

But Sarah Gibbs, who regularly wears a tree costume to highlight her opposition to the plans, argues the company will destroy a “well-used and well-loved” woodland that is enjoyed by the local community.

Rotary Wood is part of the Pinewoods and was planted by schoolchildren in the 2000s. Ms Gibbs’ GoFundMe crowdfunder has a goal of £3,000 and is currently at £200. You can read more about it  here.

Ms Gibbs said:

“Rotary Wood supports a variety of flora and fauna, including protected species and local priority species. Our woodland is now at the stage for optimal carbon sequestration, supporting a sustainable future.

“Our woodland is still under threat from Harrogate Spring Water’s development plans. Harrogate Spring Water intends to expand its existing single-use plastic water bottling plant into our community woodland.”

Harrogate Spring Water secured outline planning permission for the scheme in 2017, which remains valid, but the reserved matters stage deals with its appearance, size and crucially — trees.

Around 450 trees planted by local schoolchildren in an area of the Pinewoods called Rotary Wood would be chopped down to make way for the expansion.

This led to a previous reserved matters application being refused by the council in 2021 amid widespread public opposition and negative attention in the national press.

This time, the company hopes to win over critics in a new reserved matters application by planting an additional 1,200 trees on two acres of land next to Rotary Wood and to the rear of the existing Harrogate Spring Water HQ.

Richard Hall, managing director at Harrogate Spring Water, said he hopes the new woodland will become a “valued resource” for the local community for years to come.

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Harrogate Spring Water denied claims it could expand again at a feisty public meeting this week.

Managing director Richard Hall and colleagues were quizzed for over an hour at Pinewoods Conservation Group‘s annual general meeting.

The company wants to expand its bottling plant, which would involve felling about 450 trees in a section of the Pinewoods known as Rotary Wood.

As part of the ecological mitigation strategy, it has agreed to buy two acres of land from an unnamed individual to create a publicly accessible wood with 1,200 trees — if the scheme is approved.

But this has sparked fears Harrogate Spring Water, which is part of French multinational Danone, could seek to expand again on its newly acquired land.

Mr Hall was asked if the company would consider gifting the land to the community as a gesture of goodwill and to prove it had no further expansion ambitions.

He said the land was “an expensive asset we have bought on behalf of the community” and it was “not considering at the moment” to hand over ownership.

But he added:

“We have no plans to expand the factory further. This is not a mass market brand — it’s a premium niche product.”

Sarah Gibbs, who is leading the Save Rotary Wood campaign, told the meeting Harrogate Spring Water had made a similar pledge many years ago before it was bought by Danone.

Arnold Warneken, who represents Ouseburn for the Green Party on North Yorkshire Council, said the sum involved would be “insignificant” for a company the size of Danone.

Wednesday’s meeting

An audience member called Terry Byrne added:

“Unless you donate that two acres we will have the sword of Damocles over our heads. I don’t see how Danone, with its size, is not capable of doing that.”

No green roof 

The company was also under fire at the meeting on Wednesday (March 20) for failing to include a green ‘living roof’ on the proposed new building, which has been criticised for its “industrial” appearance by Harrogate Civic Society.

Nick Pleasant, the planning consultant from Stantec, said there were “certain challenges around delivering a green roof”, including the weight of the extra load.

The proposed extension building.

He added the company had listened to concerns and would produce a “fully compliant ecological mitigation plan”.

This includes working with an unnamed charity to plant another 1,500 trees around Harrogate, which along with the new woodland would mean any trees lost will be replaced on a 6:1 ratio. Harrogate Spring Water has also said the scheme will create 50 jobs plus 20 more during construction.

However, Mr Pleasant said a biodiversity report wasn’t a formal requirement at this stage and the company was “unlikely” to produce one.

Attendees also raised concerns about water extraction and the impact of extra lorries using the highways around Harlow Moor Road in Harrogate while Shan Oakes, the Green Party parliamentary candidate for Harrogate and Knaresborough, said it was simply “unethical” to sell water in plastic bottles.

Tom Gordon, the Liberal Democrat candidate for Harrogate and Knaresborough who has spoken against the scheme, questioned why Harrogate Spring Water could not go “above the bare minimum” by only buying two acres of land for a woodland — the same amount of land its new building will require.

Pinewoods Conservation Group chair Neil Hind

Jemima Parker, chair of Zero Carbon Harrogate, asked what Harrogate Spring Water would do with the income from the timber of felled trees.

Mr Hall said:

“I can assure you that we have no intention of profiting from the wood.”

The issue is unlikely to come before North Yorkshire Council’s planning committee anytime soon.

Public consultation has been extended and another 21-day consultation is expected after Harrogate Spring Water publishes further documents after North Yorkshire Council’s arboricultural officer Alan Gilleard said he was “not in a position to support” the plans as they stood.

Pinewoods Conservation Group chair Neil Hind concluded the meeting by saying he thought the planning application might not be determined until at least late summer.

Even that is unlikely to be the end of the matter because if approval is granted, the council must then decide whether to sell or lease the land in Rotary Wood to Harrogate Spring Water.

Harrogate Spring Water received outline planning permission for the scheme in 2017, which remains valid. The current reserved matters stage deals with its appearance, size and landscaping. Councillors rejected a previous reserved matters application in 2021,

You can view planning documents and comment on the application by visiting the council’s planning portal here and typing in reference number 20/01539/REMMAJ where it says ‘enter a keyword’.

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North Yorkshire Council‘s tree expert has said he is “not in a position to support” Harrogate Spring Water‘s bid to expand into woodland alongside its headquarters.

Arboricultural officer Alan Gilleard raised a series of concerns in his response to the consultation on the company’s planning application.

Mr Gilleard said “normally an application includes a tree survey though I cannot find one”. He added he could also not find any evidence detailing the species to be removed.

He raised several other issues that required further information before concluding:

“Reading through the documentation we seem to be light on detail and some way off a position where we could support. At the moment I am not in a position to support.”

The company, which is part of French-owned multi-national Danone, wants to fell trees in a section of the Pinewoods known as Rotary Wood to make space for a new building. It has agreed to plant 1,500 saplings to create a community woodland as mitigation for the loss of trees.

Rotary Wood in the Pinewoods

The public consultation was due to end on Sunday (March 10) but has been extended following a request from Pinewoods Conservation Group, which does not feel it has sufficient information to give its view. Representatives from Harrogate Spring Water are due to attend the group’s annual general meeting on Wednesday, March 20.

So far the consultation has attracted 590 objections and six expressions of support.

Concerns about ‘large scale industrial’ building

In another blow for the company, Helen Golightly, the council’s principal landscape architect, has said the “planting details are incomplete for the stage of the proposals” and requested further details.

Ms Golightly said it was “essential” for Harrogate Spring Water to produce a landscape visual appraisal that “should account for the loss of woodland and the consequences of this on both visual amenity and the character of the area”.

She said there needed to be “a rudimentary tree survey” and raised concerns about the latest designs for the proposed new building. which she described as a “very large scale industrial building”. She said:

“The reserved matters application shows a building which is much more monolithic than the outline proposal which had a series of components which helped to provide some relief along elevations and incorporated areas of glazing along the north elevation.

“There was also a suggestion of a green roof which now appears to have been removed from the proposals.”

Harrogate Spring Water has pledged to replace any trees lost on a 3:1 ratio. It has said the scheme will create 50 jobs plus 20 more during construction.

Richard Hall, managing director at Harrogate Spring Water, previously said the new community woodland “will be fully accessible to the public and we hope will become a valued resource for the local community for many years to come”.

Harrogate Spring Water received outline planning permission for the scheme in 2017, which remains valid. The current reserved matters stage deals with its appearance, size and landscaping. Councillors rejected a previous reserved matters application in 2021,

You can view planning documents and comment on the application by visiting the council’s planning portal here and typing in reference number 20/01539/REMMAJ where it says ‘enter a keyword’.

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The Liberal Democrat candidate aiming to be Harrogate and Knaresborough’s next MP has said he opposes the latest expansion plans by Harrogate Spring Water.

However, the current Conservative MP Andrew Jones has not given an explicit indication of whether he supports or opposes the plans.

Harrogate Spring Water revealed proposals this month to fell 450 trees near its Harlow Moor Drive headquarters so it can expand its bottling plant and produce more plastic bottles.

It says the scheme will create 50 jobs and lead to a net biodiversity gain because it will create a 1,200-tree publicly accessible woodland nearby.

But the campaign group Save Rotary Wood is leading opposition to the loss of trees, which were planted by schoolchildren concerned about climate change.

Harrogate Spring Water, which is owned by French multinational Danone, is holding a public consultation event at the Crown Hotel in Harrogate from 4pm to 7pm tomorrow (Thursday, November 30).

Ahead of the meeting, we asked Mr Jones and Mr Gordon for their views on the subject.

Mr Gordon said:

“Whilst I absolutely want to see more jobs in Harrogate, and the benefit that would bring for our local economy, I do not support the plans in their current form.

“We should be protecting woodland and preserving biodiversity; to suggest there will be a net gain is not guaranteed, as it would take years for new trees to mature.”

Mr Jones gave a lengthier response but did not state explicitly whether he supported the proposal.

He said:

“The level of community engagement by Harrogate Spring Water on their latest application is a significant and welcome improvement on their previous attempt to achieve approval for their extension. That public consultation is critical as the outcome will rightly be a significant part of the considerations of the Harrogate and Knaresborough planning committee when they look at the application.

“The environmental offer is a big improvement on what we saw previously. And that is important, as constituents to whom I have spoken want significant additional tree planting and public access to that new woodland if the council are minded to approve the proposals.

“On the face of it, replacing trees that are lost on a 3-to-1 or a 6-to-1 ratio is a large increase in cover. The concern is that saplings will be replacing trees with 25 years’ growth. I have spoken to people who helped plant saplings in Rotary Wood all those years ago and I can understand why that is a very emotive part of these plans.”

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Mr Jones added:

“Having said that, it is also important to acknowledge that Harrogate Water is a successful local business that carries the name of our town across the world. I want that success to continue and to grow.

“So a welcome for the vastly improved public engagement, a welcome for the increased environmental offer alongside public access and a recognition that we want successful businesses locally. But I understand the caution about habitat loss and the loss of an area enjoyed by many for recreation.

“There is a public consultation event this week which can help further shape the proposals. I encourage everyone with an interest to attend that meeting and help ensure that the planners get the best possible application to consider.”