Harrogate Spring Water (danone) has submitted its final plan to expand its operations in the town.
The company has submitted the final version of its proposals to North Yorkshire Council after a further round of consultations with community groups, stakeholders and local authority officials.
The centrepiece of its proposal is the creation of an area of new publicly accessible woodland planted on 2 acres of land immediately next to Rotary Wood and to the rear of the existing Harrogate Spring Water operations on Harlow Moor Road.
There will also be additional tree planting within the current Rotary Wood site, where it aims to expand its production facilities.
The final version of the proposals contains a number of changes from the plan originally sent to North Yorkshire Council in February of this year.
Changes include:
- A reduction in the height of the expansion building
- The introduction of timber cladding for the expansion building
- Updated badger, bat and tree surveys
Following a request from council tree experts, the planting programme planned for the new publicly accessible woodland next to Rotary Wood has also been revised.
The initial plans sought to plant around 1460 trees on existing Harrogate Spring Water land and in the new community woodland. North Yorkshire Council has requested that, instead, around 660 larger and more mature trees be planted. This is based on advice from the council’s arboriculturist on the number and mix of trees which is most likely to allow the new woodland to flourish and grow.
Harrogate Spring Water had also planned to plant an additional 1500 trees in other locations in Harrogate. This number will be increased by around 800 trees to make up for the number of trees that will not be planted on site and in the new woodland.
Richard Hall, managing director at Harrogate Spring Water, said:
We are a business whose success is rooted in the town of Harrogate and its people, so it is really important for us to work in partnership with the local community.
Through this process we have engaged and listened to the people of Harrogate to ensure that their views are taken on board when we consider how best to expand what is a very successful and growing business – one which creates jobs and investment for Harrogate and proudly carries the name of the town right across the country.
The feedback was clear, that the loss of trees and publicly accessible woodland is a concern. That is why the centrepiece of our plan is the creation of a new community woodland which will be fully accessible to the public and we hope will become a valued resource for the local community for many years to come.
On trees, we have said we will be guided by experts on the best planting programme. That is why, at the request of North Yorkshire Council, we have adjusted our plans regarding the number and mix of trees to be planted on site and in the new community woodland. We will now increase the planting we do in other sites around Harrogate to ensure we still plant the same number of trees we had promised to, while also giving the new community woodland the best chance to flourish.
At the end of this process, we want to see a thriving, accessible community woodland and six times as many trees planted in Harrogate as are lost during the building process. I believe that this is a best-in-class plan to deliver business growth while minimising environmental impact.
The expansion will help to create over 50 new jobs for local people at Harrogate Spring Water, in addition to at least 20 jobs in the local construction sector during the build phase. The company also hopes that the expansion will enable it to offer opportunities for apprenticeships in the future.
HSWL say it will boost the level of economic output generated – known as Gross Valued Added (GVA) – by Harrogate Spring Water by around £2.3m a year to £6.2m a year.
The Reserved Matters application will be available in the coming week on the North Yorkshire Council website at https://www.northyorks.gov.uk/planning-and-conservation/view-and-comment-planning-applications where users can leave views and comments.
Once the application has been received by North Yorkshire Council, it will subject to a local consultation process led by the council.
It will then be reported to Planning Committee where councillors will consider the application.
