Harrogate Spring Water will not appeal the decision taken by Harrogate Borough Council earlier this year to refuse plans for its expansion.
Instead, Harrogate Spring Water will consult with the community before submitting a new planning application to benefit the town and its natural environment.
Details of the proposed application will be shared widely in the coming weeks.
James Cain, managing director of Harrogate Spring Water, said:
We care passionately about acting in the best interests of Harrogate, its people and its natural environment. And that’s why we listen to the community.
Our vision is to create a sustainable future for our business as one that supports high quality jobs, drives prosperity in the town and looks after nature.
We’ve taken on board the feedback on our original expansion plans. Now we’ll continue to engage with the community – actively seeking views on a revised plan that responds to people’s concerns and ambitions.
We’ll also be clear in explaining our rationale, and why we believe this move is important from an environmental and economic perspective.
We’ll provide a further update in the coming weeks.
Neil Hind, Chairperson, Pinewoods Conservation Group:
We will review any new plans carefully and continue to engage. We are also pleased to see that the feedback provided by ourselves and other groups will be taken onboard.
However, any plans that result in the loss of any part of Rotary Wood that is part of a designated “Asset of Community Value” under the Localism Act will continue to be difficult for our members to support.
A key challenging factor that is likely to remain will be the offer of suitable publicly accessible land as mitigation for any loss of public green space that was much lacking in previous proposals.