Villagers to oppose mushroom firm appeal

Greyfriars – which ships in 1,000 lorry loads of mushrooms from Poland each year – have provoked outrage with plans for a 73,300 sq ft building near Ripon with 12 growing rooms to produce an extra 150,000lb every week that it says will replace imports.

Harrogate Borough Council rejected three different applications last year for the 4.5m expansion, as well as a formal bid to cut down an oak protected by a tree preservation order.

But an appeal against the decision is due to go before the council on Tuesday and Wednesday next week.

A spokesman for Wath Against Mushrooms, an action group formed in the village, one mile away from the development, said: "We will be urging the planners to reject the appeal.

"There is nearly universal opposition to this in the village and it is not just Wath that suffers but also Melmerby; it causes a lot of disturbance.

"The expansion would have a massive impact.

"We already have HGV lorries coming 24 hours a day, seven days a week, from across Europe and the roads here are narrow country lanes.

"We have a number of speakers lined up who will be using persuasive arguments why this appeal should be rejected.

"Our basic point remains the same – this is entirely the wrong location for a massive food production and packing business."

Greyfriars chairman, John Smith, has defended the development.

He maintains that the scheme would save two million food miles a year and create 60 jobs, and also stresses that the development is vital to ensure the business remains viable.

A spokesman for the firm said: "This is a response to our customer's demands for more locally produced food."