Controversial Harrogate Spring Water bottling plant plans set for green light
Controversial plans for a new bottling plant for Harrogate Spring Water have been recommended for approval to councillors.
A North Yorkshire Council planning committee hearing is to rule this Friday on the plans, which have been the subject of controversy due to the intended loss of woodland to make way for the site.
More than 1,300 submissions have been made to the council about the application, with concerns raised by the likes of the Rotary Club of Harrogate, Harrogate Civic Society, the Ramblers Association, the Pinewoods Conservation Group and the Save Rotary Wood Group.
Local MP Tom Gordon had sought that the application was called in by the Secretary of State but the request was refused, leaving the matter to be determined by the local planning committee.
A officer’s report to councillors has now recommended the scheme is approved.
It said the principle of development has already been established through an outline planning application approved in 2017 which had acknowledged the proposal “would cause harm” through the loss of trees but concluded the economic benefits of the proposal outweighed this.
The new report said: “The matters for consideration under this application only relate to access, scale, layout, appearance and landscaping. The scale, access and layout comply with the parameters conditioned at outline stage and are considered to be acceptable.”
The expansion is set to create 50 new jobs.
Harrogate Spring Water has recently said the expansion plan could add £17m a year to the local economy through increased production capacity. It said its Leeds-based suppliers “could see annual spend increase by 89 per cent to just over £16 million”.
It added that combined spend across packaging-related suppliers, “including but not limited to cardboard packaging from Halifax, pallets from Pontefract and bottle caps from Hull, is projected to double from around £3.5 million to £6.9 million”.
Ian Swann, Operations Director at Harrogate Spring Water said: “Harrogate Spring Water has a long history of working with suppliers based here in Yorkshire and across the North.
"The vast majority of what we use every day is already sourced regionally and our expansion plans would increase demand across our supply chain as part of normal operations, keeping more value in the local economy.
“The proposed expansion is currently subject to the planning process.
"The projected impacts outlined are based on Harrogate Spring Water’s current supply chain and highlight how increased production capacity would subsequently increase total spend on regional suppliers.”