Harrogate Spring Water to appeal expansion refusal
The company will lodge its formal appeal in the coming days after the council rejected the Harlow Moor Road proposals, with a planning decision now expected in 2027.
The committee’s rejected the plans, which were recommended for approval, in April this year, listing its reasons for refusal as inadequate landscaping to compensate for the loss of existing trees, and that the appearance of the proposed extension lacked “local distinctiveness”.
Harrogate Spring Water said detailed proposals for both landscaping and the building’s appearance had been developed following consultation with the local community and the council.
The water company, one of Harrogate’s best known brands, was granted outline planning permission to expand in 2017 and submitted a reserved matters application in 2020.
Plans to extend its bottling facility into land on Rotary Woods were delayed last October, as North Yorkshire Council requested more information on how the company intends to make up for the loss of woodland.
It then requested that the government rule on the decision, however in February this year Steve Reed, secretary of state for housing, communities, and local government, said in a letter to Harrogate MP Tom Gordon, that the government would not rule on the plans.
The proposed development consisted of three units measuring 52,000 sq ft and would have extended north of the current facility onto around four acres of woodland.
At the centre of the expansion proposals is a new two-acre publicly accessible woodland adjacent to Rotary Wood. The company said the woodland would match the size of the area affected by the development and would be planted on land it secured for community use.
The company has also committed to planting six times as many trees as would be lost through the expansion, alongside delivering the obligatory 10% biodiversity net gain. It has also highlighted the potential economic impact of the expansion, which would increase production capacity and demand for local suppliers and services.
Around half of Harrogate Spring Water’s core product and packaging material suppliers are based within 50 miles of its Harrogate site, according to the company. It said the expansion would increase ongoing demand across manufacturing, logistics and other services in Yorkshire and the wider North.
Harrogate Spring Water projects that spending with recruitment providers could increase threefold, while expenditure on locally sourced cleaning services could double as production increases.
The company said independent polling indicates that a majority of people in Harrogate support its sustainable growth, while acknowledging opposition to the expansion among some residents.
Richard Hall, managing director of Harrogate Spring Water, said: “We have designed our plans extremely carefully over a number of years and have consulted both with the community and with local planning officials to ensure they are compliant, which officers recognised when they recommended the plans for approval.
“We do not agree with Committee’s decision and so our next step is to appeal.
“We have done everything we can to understand genuine local community concerns, mitigate environmental impact and invest for sustainable development in the future, benefitting the local economy of Harrogate.
