The Government has refused to intervene in a bottled water company's controversial plans to extend its Harrogate factory into an area of community woodland.
Ministers had instructed North Yorkshire Council not to make a decision on plans by Harrogate Spring Water to increase the size of its plant in the town’s Harlow Moor Road while it considered whether to call in the application.
But Steve Reed, Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, has now decided against making a ruling on the application.
In a letter to Harrogate MP Tom Gordon, who had requested the call-in, Baroness Taylor of Stevenage, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Housing and Local Government, said:
“The Secretary of State has considered your request and has decided, having had regard to the call-in policy, not to call in this application.
“I am sorry that this is not the outcome that you or your constituents may have hoped for, and I realise the decision will come as a disappointment.
“However, it is now for North Yorkshire Council to determine the application.
“If your constituents wish to make any further representations, they should do so to the officers or members of the council.”
Mr Gordon said he was disappointed with the decision.
He added:
“This is a David and Goliath battle, one of a large foreign multinational corporation versus local residents who will have to deal with the impact of our natural resources being exploited for private profit.
“We have fantastic local residents, councillors, and organisations like the Pinewoods Conservation group and a proper grassroots community-led campaign. I’ll continue to work with them going forward as the application progresses.”
Members of the council’s Harrogate and Knaresborough area planning committee deferred a decision on the expansion amid objections from campaign groups and local politicians over the loss of around 500 trees in Rotary Wood in October last year.
However, the application was expected to be considered again early in the New Year before the call-in request to the government was made.
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