Famous TV presenter's plea over future of Rotary Wood in Harrogate
Harrogate Borough Council's planning committee is set to make a decision tomorrow (January 26) over whether Harrogate Spring Water can extend its factory by building onto surrounding woodland, which is currently council-owned and leased to the company, which is owned by Danone, the French multinational food-products corporation.
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Hide AdIn Ms Bradbury’s open letter, she writes it would be “morally wrong” to cut down community woodland to expand the plastic bottling plant.
The presenter, who is a vocal campaigner for access to the outdoors and against plastic pollution, wrote: “The community needs and deserves access to this much-loved green space on a local scale, and plastic is a major pollution problem that needs tackling on a global scale.”
She added that the United Nations that only nine per cent of the 400m tonnes of plastic waste produced annually is currently recycled, and that by 2050 it is estimated that there will be more plastic in the world's oceans than fish.
Harrogate Spring Water was initially granted permission to extend its bottle plant facilities, then two years later the company submitted revised proposals for a plant which was 40 per cent larger than the initial blueprint.
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Hide AdRob Pickering, a senior spokesperson for Harrogate Spring Water, said: “We’d like to reassure the local community that the plan for Rotary Wood places a huge focus on supporting the local environment and promoting biodiversity.
“Our plans include a commitment to replacing the trees on a two for one basis and a long term plan to ensure they are looked after and protected. And for the area of Rotary Woods that will remain as woodland, we will be investing to enhance its accessibility and usability for the community. We are and will continue to be good considerate neighbours within Harrogate.”
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