Campaigners Warn the UK Government of Failing on Trees and Woodland to be Lost in North Yorkshire Harrogate Factory Expansion

National conservation experts warn the UK Government is falling behind on its climate and biodiversity targets. Meanwhile, campaigners in Harrogate, North Yorkshire, are fighting to save up to 1,000 local trees from being felled to expand the Danone-owned Harrogate Spring Water Bottling factory.

Trees vs Expansion Plans

A new national report was published in October by the Woodland Trust, National Trust, Royal Horticultural Society (RHS) and the Horticultural Trades Association (HTA). It finds that the UK continues to miss vital woodland creation targets, with only 45% of targets having been met in the last four years.

Yet, at the same time, North Yorkshire Council is recommending the approval of final details to let a major factory expansion by Harrogate Spring Water go ahead. The planning application cites 500 trees will be cut down; however, a tree count by campaign group Save Rotary Wood identified over 1,000. Once, the woodland was planted by local school children.

The planning proposal is due to be decided at a committee meeting on Tuesday, October 28, even though no fully agreed ecological mitigation plan is in place and no lighting strategy has been submitted – leaving bat protection and wider ecological impacts still uncertain.

The in-principal approval was originally issued in 2017, meaning the stronger tree and nature protections under the Environment Act 2021 do not apply. The application is only required to deliver ’no net loss’ to biodiversity. Whilst Harrogate Spring Water have repeatedly said in the press that they are ‘committed’ to Biodiversity Net Gain, this is not supported by any binding intention in the planning application.

Campaigning for Nature

This has been a nine-year battle for the community and for nature. The campaign to save the trees and local wildlife habitat is being led by Pinewoods Conservation Group alongside community group Save Rotary Wood, with the support of CPRE, Friends of the Earth and the Green Party.

Environmental legal specialists Richard Buxton Solicitors, acting on behalf of campaigners, have formally advised North Yorkshire Council that the outline permission may have lapsed due to key ecological conditions not being met in time. He also warns that proceeding without clarification could be unlawful.

A spokesman for Pinewoods Conservation Group, said, “At a time when national experts are sounding the alarm that the UK is set to fail on its tree-planting and biodiversity promises, we are about to allow the destruction of a thriving and much-loved woodland. You cannot claim to be tackling the climate crisis while cutting down hundreds of trees that are already locking in carbon, supporting wildlife and improving community wellbeing. This is not ‘progress’ – it is environmental backsliding dressed up as development.”

North Yorkshire Green Party Chair (interim) Arnold Warneken added, “We are in a climate emergency, with major flooding in Harrogate – and trying to plant trees as quickly as we can – and both national and local governments appear to be letting this quietly slip by. This is madness.”

Calling on North Yorkshire Council

The campaign has also drawn political support, with the Green Party and local independent councillor Mike Schofield writing to the Secretary of State to request intervention by the Planning Inspectorate, but this was declined. Campaigners are now calling on North Yorkshire Council to halt approval until legal concerns are addressed, modern environmental standards are applied, and a genuine nature-positive solution is secured.

Editor: Nazalea Kusuma

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Pinewoods Conservation Group

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The Pinewoods Conservation Group is a charity formed in October 2002 whose aim is to promote the maintenance and conservation of the environment within the Harrogate area and especially the area known as the Pinewoods, situated between the Valley Gardens and Harlow Carr Gardens, and such other areas within Harrogate District. They work for the continuous enhancement of the woods, planting trees and bulbs and erecting bird & bat boxes, as well as to advance public education and participation in the efforts.

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