Danone brand Harrogate Spring Water‘s decision to remove woodland in North Yorkshire to expand its bottling plant flies in the face of the group’s forest-positive commitments, campaigners have said.
The proposal involves clearing woodland near the facility known as Rotary Wood, which campaigners describe as a site planted by schoolchildren twenty years ago.
The measure is set to be voted on by North Yorkshire Council planning officers on 17 April, at a meeting in Harrogate.
More than 1,300 objections have been submitted by residents, conservation organisations and concerned individuals, with local campaigners noting that while Danone’s deforestation commitments are ‘framed as applying across its entire value chain’, in practice they ‘seem to exclude the company’s own operations in the UK’.
Vocal objections
High profile individuals including Dame Joanna Lumley, Sir Jonathon Porritt, and Dame Judi Dench, have spoken out about the decision to clear the woodland – Lumley described it as “dreadful in so many ways”, while Porritt, co-founder of Forum for the Future, said that Danone cannot call itself “forest positive while cutting down a thriving community woodland planted by children”.
Dame Judi Dench added, “At a time when the country is talking so urgently about biodiversity loss, climate pressure and the need to protect nature close to where people live, it is deeply troubling that a healthy community woodland could be treated as disposable.”
‘Worked constructively’
In response, a spokesperson for Harrogate Spring Water told SustainabilityOnline, “Throughout the planning process, we have worked constructively with council officers and listened closely to community concerns. We have committed to creating a new, publicly accessible two‑acre woodland connected to the Pinewoods, planting 491 native and more mature trees, and delivering around 3,000 trees across the district – six times more than would be lost.
“These plans are consistent with Danone’s commitments globally to sustainable, responsible development, including its Renewed Forest Policy. “Ultimately our goal remains to balance sustainable development and economic growth with care for the local environment and community.”
The spokesperson added that expansion plans for the facility were developed in consultation with council officers and have been recommended for approval, with alignment to planning policy.
As the spokesperson noted, the water brand had planned to plant around 1,500 trees within community woodland adjacent to Rotary Wood, however this was reduced to 491 following advice from North Yorkshire Council’s arboriculturist.
Impacted trees
While the Harrogate Spring Water spokesperson put the extent of the impact at around 500 trees, campaigners have argued that this number is far higher.
As a Pinewood Conservation Group spokesperson told SustainabilityOnline, “A tree count undertaken across the woodland area for the Pinewoods Conservation Group identified well in excess of 1,000 trees at risk. This aligns with wider independent estimates suggesting a substantially larger baseline tree population than that presented.
“In light of this discrepancy we note that Harrogate Rotary also have formally requested that a comprehensive and independently verified tree count be undertaken to confirm the true position. This reinforces concerns that the current assessment materially had understated both the existing resource and the scale of loss.”
