Children’s woodland to be destroyed as Harrogate Spring Water, owned by the multinational Danone, is planning to cut down a wood planted by schoolchildren in order to expand its bottling factory in Harrogate.
Almost 20 years ago two primary schools, along with other local volunteers, helped to plant 450 trees in a project aimed at fighting climate breakdown organised by the local rotary club. Local objectors believe that if the plans go ahead it will also mean more plastic bottles, and fewer mature trees to extract carbon from the atmosphere.
The woodland, known as Rotary Wood, includes oak, birch, willow, hornbeam, pine and wild cherry trees and is managed by the Pinewoods Conservation Group, which strongly objects to the change. Its chair, Neil Hind, said: “It is a vital habitat for bats including protected species, and forms part of an ecosystem that our community depends on for recreation, education and wellbeing.”
In 2017 the expansion plan for the bottling plant received outline planning permission, but the details still require approval. After many local objections, Harrogate Spring Water recently submitted a revised plan to the planning
authority. The company’s managing director, Richard Hall, told The Guardian: “We have been on a journey to bring the community with us as we seek to expand our site. In the feedback we received it was clear that the loss of trees
and publicly accessible woodland was the primary concern, which is why the centrepiece of our plan is now an area of new community woodland – of the same size as the area impacted – joined up with the existing Rotary Wood.”
Tom Gordon, the local MP told The Guardian: “People are frustrated and upset about the planned changes to this space and don’t feel they’ve been listened too. We need to strike a balance between creating good quality jobs and protecting our green spaces.”
North Yorkshire council said it was considering the revised plans, “which have been the subject of a full reconsultation exercise”.