Cop31: ministers urged to look nature laws over Harrogate Spring Water development
The proposal for a new Harrogate Spring Water factory would see the potential loss of around 500 trees in Rotary Wood and Pinewoods.
Government ministers travelling to Turkey for the UN’s Cop31 climate summit have been urged to look at the Harrogate Spring Water factory expansion as to why environmental laws need strengthening.
North Yorkshire Council’s planning committee has previously rejected proposals for the new bottling plant, in Harlow Moor Road, Harrogate, which HSW’s multinational owner Danone has said will contribute £17m to the local economy.
Last week, the local authority confirmed it would fight against Danone’s appeal on the decision due to the potential loss of around 500 trees in Rotary Wood and Pinewoods.
Councillors stated that this landscaping was inadequate and that the building’s appearance was unacceptable in its sensitive setting.
The battle comes as Government ministers travel to Antalya in Turkey today for the 31st UN Cop climate summit.
This includes Energy Secretary Miatta Fahnbulleh and Climate Minister and Leeds North West MP Katie White, who said she would be “making sure the voices of people across Britain are heard”.
The Wildlife Trust urged them to focus on protecting and restoring nature, which it said is “integral to both reducing emissions and the impacts of climate change”.
At Cop31, the Government is looking to protect forests and oceans as critical natural infrastructure for climate stability.
Ms Fahbulleh added: “This summer, we all felt it: climate change is here, in Britain, now. No country can tackle it alone, which is why Cop31 matters.”
Last month, the Government renewed its international commitments to halt nature loss at the special biodiversity Cop in Armenia.
Former Green Party leader Baroness Bennett, who is currently trying to shepherd the Nature’s Rights Bill through the House of Lords, says the Harrogate Spring Water case underlines why the UK needs greater environmental protections.
“The application to cut down trees of great environmental and community value to produce more bottled water — an unnecessary, polluting and wasteful product — is something the council rightly, and popularly, rejected,” she said.
“That a giant multinational company, which seeks with swathes of cash to promote its 'healthy' credentials, should not accept the local verdict is unacceptable, but a symptom of the fact that our current environmental law invites such actors to seek to push their plans further and further.
"My Nature's Rights Bill, now before the House of Lords, would turn this failed approach around, ensuring that development plans have to be made from the start with the protection of nature as their foundation."
Sarah Gibbs, organiser of Save Rotary Wood Again, said the appeal could start within days.
“Baroness Bennett's Nature's Rights Bill would recognise nature as a legal subject, establish duties of care and provide mechanisms for considering and enforcing nature's rights,” she said.
“The proposals would seek to make environmental protection a foundation of development decisions rather than something addressed through mitigation and compensation after plans have been drawn up.
“Campaigners argue that stronger protection at the earliest stages could encourage less damaging development, reduce uncertainty and potentially save councils, businesses and communities the expense of prolonged planning disputes.”
Harrogate Spring Water has insisted its proposals have been carefully developed to balance business growth with environmental improvements.
Its plans include creating two acres of publicly accessible woodland next to Rotary Wood, equivalent to the area affected by the expansion, planting six replacement trees for every one lost under a scheme developed with council ecology experts, and delivering a 10 per cent biodiversity net gain.
Managing director Richard Hall said: “We understand the importance of Rotary Wood to the local community.
“So we have developed our plans very carefully over a number of years, taking into account community feedback and environmental considerations, including a new two-acre publicly accessible woodland, six trees planted for every one lost and a 10 per cent net gain in biodiversity.
“As a proud Harrogate business, we want to grow sustainably, supporting local jobs and the wider economy, while continuing to listen to the community.
“We believe our appeal has a strong basis and look forward to the opportunity to have our plans properly considered.”