Harrogate Spring Water investigating new water sources on council land

Harrogate Borough Council granted permission for Harrogate Spring Water to test the council’s borehole at its horticultural nursery on Harlow Hill, documents reveal — so the company could explore a potential new water source. 

The Stray Ferret has obtained emails between the company and the council via a freedom of information request. They reveal Harrogate Spring Water tested the borehole in May this year and is continuing to investigate groundwater in the area.

Boreholes are used to extract water from the ground. Harrogate Spring Water bottles water from a bore hole at its headquarters on Harlow Moor Road, on land owned by the council and leased to the company.

Much of the land surrounding the facility, including the Pinewoods and Harlow Hill nursery, is also owned by the council.

As part of the firm’s lease agreement with the council, water is extracted from two boreholes on the Harlow Moor Road site. There is a third borehole on Pennypot Bridge.

The council grows its floral displays at Harlow Hill nursery and sells plants, pots and compost to the public there, although it plans to sell the site for housing and move the nursery elsewhere. It also has a on-site borehole that it uses to water plants.

Investigations in the area

Harrogate Spring Water is set to submit fresh plans to increase the size of its bottling plant within the next few months and emails suggest the company may also be looking for new sources of water to help the company expand.

An email from Harrogate Spring Water to the council, dated June 6, reveals the council gave the company permission to perform “some testing work” on its borehole at Harlow Hill nursery in the previous month.

However, it says the results “weren’t what Harrogate Spring were looking for”.

Email from Harrogate Spring Water to Harrogate Borough Council on June 6

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The email continues to say the company would like to survey the land around Harlow Moor Road to find out “where the best potential for water might be and how the water is working”.

Follow-up emails between two council officers, whose names were redacted, query if these tests are to identify new water sources.

A spokesperson for Pinewoods Conservation Group, the charity that looks after the Pinewoods, said the testing of boreholes in the area was a “major concern”.

They said the charity had received reports from visitors of investigative works taking place in the Pinewoods recently, adding:

“We’ve had assurances before around no further expansion plans but confirmation that more boreholes are being investigated around the Pinewoods area is a major concern for us.

“Several visitors reported seeing investigative works happening within the Pinewoods itself recently, without any notice of this from either Harrogate Spring Water or Harrogate council.

“We would encourage all parties to be transparent on their longer terms plans and involve the relevant stakeholders as required.”

Harrogate Spring Water’s statement

A spokesperson for Harrogate Spring Water confirmed it had performed testing at the council borehole at Harlow Nurseries. It said this was to “understand the potential availability of water” from beneath the ground.

They said it is also exploring the land around Harlow Moor Road and the Pinewoods for similar reasons.

They described this as a “routine part” of the management of their water sources.

The spokesperson also said the company had “no immediate plans” for a new borehole, but that if “an opportunity to enhance our water security arose”, they would consider it.

The full statement is below:

“Over the summer, we have been doing a geophysical survey of parts of the land to the rear of our facility in order to create a 3D map of its geology.

“The reason for the survey is to better understand the bedrock geology in the area as part of our aquifer management and to better understand the potential water capability of the aquifer. This is a routine part of the responsible management of our water source, alongside work such as weekly monitoring of borehole performance via depth and meter readings and weekly rainfall recording.

“We work with a local family-run company that helps us manage our boreholes and explore the areas around Harrogate for new sustainable sources of high-quality water, which is a prudent part of responsible water management.

“We have no immediate plans for a new borehole, but if an opportunity to enhance our water security arose, and a landowner showed an interest in having us drill on their land, we would work with that landowner and the Environment Agency to ensure that any source was 100% sustainable, in compliance with the regulatory regime.

“The boreholes which we use take up only a few square metres of land, which is normally in a corner of a field or hidden by a screen of shrubs or trees.”

Yorkshire Dales’ key purpose could change for climate change

Custodians of the Yorkshire Dales National Park have questioned whether its main purposes need to change to help tackle climate change.

A meeting of the Yorkshire Dales National Park Authority heard the organisation was expected to lead the way over tackling climate change, but a consultants’ study found the level of emissions generated by visitors  were similar to those created by its residents.

The meeting heard that mainly due to the lack of public transport, visitors generated about two-thirds of residents’ emissions by just travelling to the area and returning home.

However, the carbon footprint of the residents of the national park is estimated to be around 18 per cent higher than the UK average.

The residents’ emissions from flying are estimated to be around 48 per cent higher than for an average UK resident.

Member champion for the natural environment Mark Corner told the meeting although the park authority could not dictate how visitors travelled to and from the park, it could encourage greener transport.

He said:

“Once drivers get to the park they have a very limited ability to get round other than the cars they come in. We need to look again at our public transport approach.”

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Nick Cotton, the authority’s recreation management member champion, questioned whether national parks should continue to promote themselves as international destinations given the large volumes of greenhouse gases that air travel generates.

He said:

“If we are saying come to beautiful Britain to the wealthy, developing countries in the Far East then aren’t we shooting ourselves in the foot a bit because we are actually encouraging more flights and more greenhouse gas emissions.”

Another member, Kevin Frea, called for the authority to relook at alternative ways of travelling to and around the park, pointing out how 36% of the park’s carbon emissions related to car travel.

Richard Foster, the leader of Craven District Council, also questioned whether it was right for the park be promoted nationally and internationally, through events such as the Tour de Yorkshire cycling race.

In response, the authority’s chief executive David Butterworth said while the authority had some influence on the park, it was not among the top five organisations that could make significant changes.

He said the national park was still being promoted to British and foreign tourists because the law had not caught up with the reality of climate change.

Mr Butterworth said he believed there was a contradiction between needing to tackle climate change and national parks’ statutory purposes.

He said he was optimistic the new government would review whether the climate change and nature emergencies should be enshrined in national parks’ main purposes.

Mr Butterworth told the meeting:

“The law says national park authorities exist to promote understanding and enjoyment. We have taken that over 50 years to mean that means promoting visitor numbers.”

He said national parks were in need of “better and stricter guidance” from central government over how they should be responding to climate change.

Harrogate to host peace conference

A conference will take place in Harrogate on September 24 based around the themes of peace and demilitarisation.

It will happen from 10am to 6pm at Friends Meeting House on Queen Parade and has been organised by Harrogate Quakers and HUFUD (Humanity United for Universal Demilitarisation).

The wars in Ukraine and Yemen are expected to be touched upon and speakers will also discuss the environmental impact of war.

Speakers include Columbian human rights activist Angelo Cardona, Shan Oakes & Victoria Wild from Extinction Rebellion Harrogate, Martin Schweiger from Menwith Hill Accountability Campaign and artist and peace campaigner Shahina Jaffer.

It’s free to attend and for a full list of speakers click here.

The day will end at 6pm with a 30-minute peace concert by musicians from the Harrogate Philharmonic Orchestra and guests.

Paul Whitmore from Harrogate Quakers said:

“This will be a good conference to learn more about how the world and individuals are affected by militarism and what you can do to counteract it.”

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County council set to reject climate change action appeal

North Yorkshire County Council looks poised to dismiss moves by Green and Liberal Democrat councillors to accelerate the response to thr climate change and biodiversity crises, claiming they could be counter-productive.

The council’s Conservative-run executive will consider two environmental notices of motion that councillors were prevented from debating at a full council meeting in July, with the authority’s chairman instead opting to refer the proposals to its cabinet members.

Both motions propose the establishment of a new committee specifically to scrutinise the council’s progress and leadership in tackling climate change and establishing biodiversity plans to ensure oversight of the collective ambition of the council.

Since losing its overwhelming majority at the May elections, the Tory-led council has been facing mounting pressure, particularly from the Liberal Democrat and Green groups, to redouble its climate change and biodiversity efforts and allow opposition councillors to play a greater role in shaping such policies.

An officers’ report to the executive states the creation of a new scrutiny committee would take the number of such forums at the council to seven.

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It adds the council’s scrutiny function is under review as part of the establishment of a new unitary authority and recommendations would be brought before all elected members later this year.

One of the motions also calls for the creation of a new executive member to reflect the scale of the job, but the officers’ report highlights the executive already has the maximum number of members allowed under the county council’s constitution.

Liberal Democrat group leader Cllr Bryn Griffiths, who represents Stokesley, said the officers’ report failed to fully address the high priority and action needed to effectively deal with climate change and the ecological emergency in North Yorkshire.

He said: 

“I think the points we put forward to deal with that are still valid and worthwhile objectives that the council should be taking on board and should be fully debated by the full council.”

The council’s Conservative leader, Cllr Carl Les said the executive’s debate and recommendations to the next full meeting of the authority in November would focus on how the authority could best manage the impacts of climate change.

He said: 

“It is a hugely important issue to us. It seems to me that the Greens and Lib Dems are suggesting we have to have a special executive member and a special scrutiny committee, but we believe the climate change and biodiversity issues cut across everything that we do.

“The approach that we are taking by embedding it into everything we are doing, so every report we produce now examines the climate change impact, is better.”

When asked if the decision to reject specialist climate change roles and groups at the council was politically-fuelled, Cllr Les said: 

“Not at all. All our scrutiny committees have the ability to look at climate change implications.

“If anything they have more influence and control over what we are doing than what is being proposed.”

Harrogate Spring Water ‘finalising’ latest expansion plans

Harrogate Spring Water has said it is finalising the latest expansion plans for its bottled water plant – more than a year and half after previous proposals were rejected following widespread opposition in the town.

The firm held a consultation on plans for its Rotary Wood site this summer and said it would now provide a further update “in the coming weeks”.

That same phrase was used by the Danone-owned company in January 2021 when it said new designs would be revealed “in the coming weeks” after its larger expansion plans were refused by Harrogate Borough Council.

Twenty months on, there is no new application from the firm.

Harrogate Spring Water was first granted outline permission to expand in 2017, however it failed to get approval for final designs which were 40% larger than original plans and would have seen more trees chopped down at Rotary Wood which was planted by children 16 years ago.

The company later announced it would revert back to its original plans and has now released a new statement this week.

A company spokesperson said:

“We started our public consultation process in June because it was important for us to ensure that, as we look to grow, create further job opportunities and continue to support the local and regional economy, we listen to the local community.

“This process has included individual meetings with community stakeholder groups as well as an open public consultation event, allowing people to have their say on the design and landscaping of the proposed extension and surrounding land.

“We have taken these views on board as we work towards finalising our plans for the reserved matters application.

“We anticipate providing a further update on this matter in the coming weeks.”

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More than 400 objections were lodged against the larger expansion plans which councillors claimed put “profit and plastic before impact on the environment” as they voted for refusal in January 2021.

Harrogate Spring Water previously made a commitment to replace felled trees at a rate of two to one and has since said it is looking at ways to “achieve net biodiversity gain” at its site.

Harrogate Spring Water

Harrogate Spring Water’s headquarters.

It also said the expansion would create 30 jobs and that there is “potential” to make Rotary Wood more accessible to the public.

Speaking earlier this year, the company’s managing director Richard Hall said:

“We feel it is vital for us as a business to take our environmental responsibilities seriously.

“We also want to work in partnership with the local community on this.

“We want them to help shape the woodland into the resource which they would like to see and ensure our extension blends in as well as it can into the surrounding area.”

Bilton garages set to be demolished for housing

Harrogate Borough Council‘s plan to demolish 10 garages at Woodfield Close in Bilton and build two social homes has been recommended for approval.

The council owns and rents out garages across the district and has increasingly looked at the pockets of land as a way to build social housing.

Harrogate is one of the most unaffordable places to live in England, with average house prices around 11 times the median annual income of people who work in the district.

There are currently 1,867 households on the social housing waiting list.

In planning documents, the council said the development would help to provide “much needed affordable homes”.

The council earmarked the site for housing in August 2021. In total, it has 26 garages.

In November last year, the council was awarded £50,000 of government cash to bring forward housing on the garage site at Woodfield as well as at Park Row in Knaresborough.

The council’s planning committee will meet on Tuesday to decide whether or not to approve the Woodfield proposal.

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The report to councillors says:

“The provision of two affordable dwellings is a modest addition to the district’s housing land supply.

“The design of the dwellings would respect local distinctiveness and there would be no significant harm to local residential amenity, or highway safety.

“The housing development would provide off-street parking and be a more efficient use of the site.

“The proposal would comply with the provisions of the development plan and national planning policies and guidance, and should be supported.”

Fears up to 3 million litres of water wasted during lengthy Ripon leak

There are fears up to three million litres of water went to waste in Ripon yesterday, after a Yorkshire Water mains pipe burst on North Street.

The pipe burst at around 5am and meant around 4,000 homes in Ripon and the surrounding area woke up to no water.

It wasn’t fully restored until 7pm later in the day, with the company setting up two emergency bottled water stations at Ripon fire station and Ripon Racecourse for residents.

Emergency bottled water stations were set up in the city.

The Bishop of Ripon was among those criticising Yorkshire Water’s response to customers, saying its lack of communication was “unacceptable”.

https://twitter.com/HartleyHAM/status/1560284278331678720

A source at the scene told the Stray Ferret that engineers working on the leak said 70 litres of water were lost every second before it was fixed.

In a 12-hour period, this would have meant over three million litres could have been lost in total.

We put this figure to Yorkshire Water. A spokesperson said the figure was “inaccurate” but was unable to say how much water had been lost.

They said as soon as the leak was located engineers managed to stem the flow.

However, according to the company’s Twitter account, the leak wasn’t identified until 12pm, seven hours after it was first reported.

This suggests between 1.5 million and 2 million litres of water could have been lost.

Engineers on the scene Pic: Paul Smith

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The burst main has come at a bad time for Yorkshire Water. The Harrogate district is now officially in drought and a hosepipe ban will come into force from August 26.

We asked Yorkshire Water what caused the leak and a spokesperson sent the following statement:

“Our pipework has been under a lot of pressure recently – with high peaks of water usage and the dry ground causing soil to contract, which causes pipes to fracture more easily. We’ve increased resource in our field teams over the last few weeks, so that we can catch more small leaks before they turn into bursts and fix the big bursts as soon as possible.

“It took a little bit longer than usual to locate the burst pipe and complete the fix yesterday, as it was underground and tricky to locate. We delivered bottled water to customers on our priority services register and updated our customers via the website, social media and text, as to where they could collect bottled water.

“We’re grateful to our customers for their patience whilst we fixed the issue – those eligible for compensation in relation to the water supply interruption will receive it automatically.”

Water returns to some properties in Ripon

Water has returned to some homes in Ripon following a burst pipe on North Road this morning.

Many properties in the city have had no water or low water pressure all morning.

Some companies in Ripon were forced to close, including the coffee shop at Larkhill Nurseries and the Water Rat pub. The latter has now reopened.

The problem has also affected people in nearby villages Sharow and Littlethorpe, as well as further afield in Thirsk.

Residents on Lead Lane in Ripon told the Stray Ferret at about midday that water had come back on, as have residents living in Deep Ghyll Croft and Saint Marygate. However, one person living in Sharow says water is still off as of midday.

Yorkshire Water has been slow to tell the public when normal water supply will resume.

North Road will soon be closed to traffic whilst repairs take place.

A spokesperson issued the following statement.

“Our teams are dealing with a burst 12-inch water main on North Road, Ripon. We are currently working to rezone our network and return water supply to those affected.

“To allow our teams to complete the repair safely, traffic management will be required. We’re working closely with North Yorkshire County Council highways teams to minimise disruption.”

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Councillors delay North Yorkshire climate change proposals

North Yorkshire councillors have postponed moves aiming to ensure robust and immediate actions are taken to tackle the climate change and biodiversity crises for about four months.

A meeting of North Yorkshire County Council saw a majority of elected members agree motions for further environmental measures should be referred to the council’s executive and constitutional working group for consideration.

Liberal Democrat, Independent, Green and Liberal councillors had proposed the authority establish a dedicated scrutiny committee, an executive member to oversee climate change and the development of a biodiversity action plan.

The calls came just days after the council’s executive declared a climate emergency, several years after numerous neighbouring councils, following mounting pressure from councillors.

Coordinator of the council’s Green Party group, Cllr Andy Brown, said while the executive’s recent decision to declare a climate emergency was welcome, “we all know good intent needs a clear, costed, timed action plan” to be approved by the same councillors.

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He added a scrutiny committee was needed as it was the role of councillors to examine plans to tackle climate change and that residents suffering record high temperatures would struggle to understand why the authority was not taking more immediate action.

Cllr Brown said: 

“Let’s be honest, how does it look if we say we declared an emergency, but say we’re only going to discuss the scrutiny arrangements in about four months’ time and we may not discuss them at all or we may not set up any scrutiny yet because we think our organisation is more important.

“How are we going to explain that to the people of Tadcaster who lost their bridge for so long, how are we going to explain that to people in Richmondshire who suffered those appalling floods that damaged their livelihoods?”

The authority’s chairman, Cllr Margaret Atkinson, who is tasked with controlling debates at full meetings of the authority, told the chamber the temperatures of the past few days had underlined the need to tackle climate change.

However, she said it was important the authority gave the motions “appropriate consideration”.

She added the council’s staff were already under a lot of pressure due to local government reorganisation.

The council’s deputy leader, Cllr Gareth Dadd, said the proposals had implications, such as financial ones, that needed to be fully understood, with a report by officers, before the motions could be properly considered.

He said it was possible creating an extra scrutiny committee could dilute the efforts of the authority’s existing scrutiny committees for matters ranging from health to transport.

Cllr Dadd said: 

“Policy and organisational issues are often worse for being delivered on the hoof. Good policy may well take a little bit longer to deliver.”

Harrogate climate change scientist warns of more extreme heatwaves

Harrogate climate scientist Professor Piers Forster has warned extreme heatwaves could be common in just 10 years due to climate change.

Prof Forster, who has lived in the town since 2005, was one of the main authors of last year’s “code red for humanity” climate change report published by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change on behalf of the United Nations.

The report was discussed around the globe and warned of climate catastrophe unless action is taken now.

Prof Forster has spent his career analysing the effects of climate change and is a director of the Priestley International Centre for Climate and professor of physical climate change at the University of Leeds.

The weather in Harrogate is set to peak at 38 degrees tomorrow, breaking all-time records. Prof Forster told the Stray Ferret why we are currently experiencing this extreme weather:

“The heatwave comes from a combination of a blast of hot air from Europe blowing over very dry soil. Global warming plays a big part in both these factors. Wild fires are raging across southern Europe with temperatures approaching 50 degrees centigrade in parts of Portugal.

“Climate change is warming the land and ocean, and has brought extended drought conditions to much of Europe. This means that heatwaves are over two degree more intense than they would otherwise be and are occurring much more often.  We have some of the longest records in the UK, we can use these to estimate how likely such as heatwave is.”

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Many climate change skeptics have pointed to the UK heatwave of 1976, when temperatures peaked at 35.9 degrees during one day in Cheltenham. But this was five degrees lower than what is forecast for parts of England tomorrow.

Prof Forster said the weather this week is particularly unusual but will become more common unless countries around the world take action to reach net zero.

He added:

“One hundred years ago a heatwave such as this would have occurred once every 300 years, now it’s every 15 years. In a decade or so this will be a typical summer. The science is clear that these heatwaves will worsen until the UK and every other country In the world has reached net zero emissions: all sectors of every economy will need to decarbonise. 

“Given the current crises in the world this seems like a tall ask but there is no other way. Wheat dies if it experiences temperatures of 34C or more at the time of flowering  – this is not a world we want our children growing up in.”

Grim future ‘not a given’

Today, trains from Harrogate to London have been cancelled, Knaresborough Town FC has called off a match and schools, care homes and businesses are putting measures in place to protect vulnerable people from the extreme heat.

Prof Forster said we will have to learn to adapt to more heatwaves but a “grim future” is not guaranteed if policymakers work to urgently cut emissions.

He added:

“I don’t think people realise how much the UK’s climate will change over the next two decades: we are going to have to adapt our behaviour, homes, work places, hospitals, schools, roads and trains to such hot days. Expect wild fires and spending days in doors to avoid bad air quality. 

“Our research at the University of Leeds shows that this grim future is not a given: cutting emissions urgently and strongly now can slow the rate of warming, giving societies time to adapt. We need to take this heatwave seriously: adjust your day accordingly, stay safe and hydrated.”