Strayside Sunday is our weekly political opinion column. It is written by Paul Baverstock, former Director of Communications for the Conservative Party. 

“Thousands have lived without love.  None without water.”

So said the great poet and York’s own W.H. Auden in his poem ‘First Things First.’

Water is elemental, an essential building block for life on earth.  The human body comprises up to 60% water and global water security is, in my view, one of the most under-reported threats faced by contemporary civilisation.  The World Health Organisation reports that 1 in 3 humans in the world today have no access to an improved water supply, which is to say they have no access to clean and drinkable water.  And at current rates of global climate change the United Nations predicts that 6 billion of us will face water scarcity by 2050.

All of this to inject some context and perspective into the debate raging in this parish between Harrogate Spring Water, the council and a coalition of locals and environmental campaigners over the future of Rotary Wood, a publicly accessible green oasis planted in 2005 by Harrogate residents.  French consumer goods and yogurt giant Danone (revenues €25 billion or thereabouts) has asked Harrogate Borough Council (revenues a great deal less) to consider an application to expand its Pinewoods spring water bottling plant, create a few new jobs and level some much cherished woodland.

On January 18^th Harrogate Borough Council published a report recommending conditional approval for Danone’s expansion plans; on the grounds that  Harrogate Spring Water is a ‘global brand’ and a ‘strategic employer.’  This in the face of 328 planning objections (only 28 in support) and a weekly Friday protest at the town hall by local primary school teacher Sarah Gibbs, dressed like a tree for the occasion.  It should be noted that not only do the council already benefit from an annual ground rent of £13,000 – they also own the land on which the bottling plant sits – and therefore benefit from what is known as a ‘turnover rent’ (a share of turnover), cannily negotiated when the plant first opened.

I have some sympathy with the council’s dilemma.  Harrogate Spring Water is globally known; the company promote our town’s name from Tokyo to Toronto.  Indeed, to his astonishment, a good friend of mine was once served Harrogate Spring Water at a restaurant in Moscow.  Spasiba!  The council is in a tough spot; the global (let alone local) economy is on its knees and their books are short close to £5m as a result of Covid-19.  Apparently the council won’t (or can’t) reveal the full extent of what we stand to gain from our share of any increased turnover resulting from the expansion.

As regular readers of this column will know, I don’t believe, as a matter of principle, that commercial dealings between government and business should be kept private in any circumstances.  Transparency means accountability.  In this case if we knew how much the council stood to gain financially from Harrogate Spring Water’s expansion then we could take a more informed and nuanced view of whether or not to lend our support.  As it stands all we know is that we must lose a significant slice of nature and public access to it for a meagre 12 new jobs.  I’m not convinced it’s worth the sacrifice, even with Danone’s Section 106 agreement requiring them to plant replacement trees and promote biodiversity on another site.

I am convinced however that, in a world where so many don’t have access to clean drinking water, it is the height of wasteful and selfish consumerism to drink bottled spring water when we in the developed world have a perfectly good alternative from the tap.  I’m convinced too that the production of even one more single-use plastic bottle, recyclable or not, is one too many.  Is my own conscience clean in this matter?  Of course not: Holy Mary Mother of God, pray for us sinners now etc.  Indeed, only if all those who oppose the expansion at Pinewoods so vehemently, can look one another in the eye and say in truth that they don’t drink bottled water from plastic bottles, are they entitled to vent anger. As Auden says in ‘First Things First’:

“Misinformed and thoroughly fleeced by their guides,

And gentle hearts are extinct like Hegelian Bishops.”

I can’t let the week pass without mentioning the inauguration of President Joseph Robinette Biden Jr, which I watched with a mixture of relief and wonder on Wednesday.  I found the ceremony deeply moving; for me it represented a return to the United States in which I spent 11 of my most formative years – idealistic, international, aspirational.  Neither Lincoln nor JFK in his rhetorical skills, Biden’s speech was nonetheless gripping.  I thought its best passage was “Through civil war, the Great Depression, world war, 9/11, through struggle, sacrifices and setbacks, our better angels have always prevailed. In each of these moments, enough of us — ENOUGH OF US — have come together to carry all of us forward, and we can do that now,”

On his first day in office Biden signed Executive Orders that returned the US to the Paris Climate Change Agreement (in time for the COP21 conference in Glasgow at the end of November) and to the World Health Organisation.  Thank goodness.  Globally, in the United States and here at home in Harrogate, if we are to slow and reverse global warming and its awful effects – melting ice caps, famine and, yes, drought – it will take enough of us to come together and act for the common good.  The number of people on the planet without access to safe drinking water or indeed any water at all grows every day.  For the people of Harrogate, water, tap or bottled spring, is not a matter of life and death.  For 2.2 billion people around the world it is.  We should remember that when we make decisions in the narrow and parochial economic interest, rather than in the global interests of the environment.

That’s my Strayside Sunday.

Read More:

• Harrogate Spring Water welcomes recommendation to approve expansion plan,
• How Harrogate council benefits from Harrogate Spring Water plant

Do you have a view on this column or is there a political issue you’d like Paul to write about? Get in touch on paul@thestrayferret.co.uk

American expats living in Harrogate are counting down the minutes to Joe Biden’s inauguration as US president today.

Mr Biden will be sworn in as the 46th president of the United States at 5pm UK time but due to covid the celebrations will be more subdued — not only in America but also Harrogate.

Harrogate has strong connections with the United States — many Americans have worked at nearby RAF Menwith Hill .

A spokesman for the Ministry of Defence said US armed forces and civil servants were apolitical and therefore no celebrations or marking of such occasions was conducted at military sites.

But some Americans will privately mark the moment when power passes from Donald Trump to Biden.

We spoke to two expats in Harrogate: one Democrat and one Republican, and both said they will be relieved to see the back of Mr Trump.

Read more:

• £2 billion devolution negotiations kickstart as councils submit proposals
• Andrew Jones MP ‘shocked’ by ‘inadequate’ free school meals

Zahed Amanullah is a firm Democrat who proudly flies the flag for Biden and vice president-elect Kamala Harris. He told the Stray Ferret:

“I am very hopeful. Being an expat, it’s hard to sit here and watch what is happening. But in 2021 there’s a lot that people can do to be involved.

“Democrats Abroad, which I am a member of, has had a huge surge in membership. It’s not just talking about politics but getting involved in phone banks and hosting conversations.

“Joe Biden has turned out to be the man of the moment. He turned out to be the kind of person to not just defeat Trump but to guide a steady ship throughout 2021 and beyond.”

Next stop: Washington, D.C. pic.twitter.com/oW0C4LQVBf

— Joe Biden (@JoeBiden) January 19, 2021

Harold Clemens is a Republican who could not bring himself to vote for Trump. He told the Stray Ferret:

“I hate to say this but it is embarrassing to be an American at the moment. I have been a Republican since university because of their stance on business but I did not vote for Trump.

“There are few times in your life when you remember where you are when an event happens. For me it is the Gulf War, 911 and the storming of the Capitol.

“Joe Biden and Kamala Harris are the right people for the job. They can mend bridges and heal the political divide in America right now.”