Harrogate Spring Water (Danone) say they have formally submitted its final expansion proposal to North Yorkshire Council, following an additional round of consultations with local community groups, stakeholders and council officials.
Harrogate Spring Water have pre-emptively issued a press release, although there is not yet visibility of the revised planning submission.
Since most of the content of the press release can not be verified, nearly all of it can not be used. It is fair to say that the strategy is about positioning their views as primary narrative – or to lead the debate.
The say the revised proposal retains the creation of a new, publicly accessible woodland spanning 2 acres of land, located adjacent to Rotary Wood and behind the existing Harrogate Spring Water site on Harlow Moor Road.
The final submission is believed to contain amendments to the plan originally submitted to North Yorkshire Council in October 2024, incorporating feedback from the council’s experts.
The Pinewoods Conservation Group say they will reserve comment until seeing the revised plan. That is an interesting statement in itself, as HSWL say thy have worked to involve local groups.
The local MP, Tom Gordon, has re-affirmed his position on the plans.
Tom Gordon, MP for Harrogate and Knaresborough:
Whilst I welcome the changes and improvements to the Harrogate Spring Water plans, I still fundamentally oppose the application.
