Dame Judi Dench pleads with council to reject bottling plant on woodland

Dame Judi Dench has urged councillors to reject plans to expand a water bottling plant, saying it will destroy “a living, growing woodland created through patience, care and public spirit”.

A planning meeting on Friday is due to make a decision on Harrogate Spring Water’s (HSW) proposals to expand its existing facility in the town.

North Yorkshire Council has received more than 1,000 objections to the scheme, which will mean the removal of hundreds of trees at a site called Rotary Wood, which was planted by children 20 years ago.

The firm says the facility will create more than 50 new jobs, and that it plans to establish a new, public wood, featuring 491 new trees, as well as committing to planting around 3,000 trees on land around the Harrogate district.

But, in a letter to councillors and council officers which campaigners hope will be read out at Friday’s meeting, Dame Judi said: “I am sorry not to be with you in person, but I wanted my support for Rotary Wood and for the local community defending it to be heard clearly at this planning meeting.

“Rotary Wood is not an empty plot waiting for a better use. It is a living, growing woodland created through patience, care and public spirit.

“Local families, volunteers, schoolchildren and community supporters helped plant it and watch it take root.

“Over the years it has become part of Harrogate’s natural fabric and part of the area’s shared sense of place.”

The Yorkshire-born Oscar, Bafta and Oliver Award winning actor said: “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.”

Dame Judi said: “I respectfully urge the committee to recognise Rotary Wood for what it is: a meaningful community woodland, a haven for wildlife and a symbol of what local people can achieve when they invest in nature. It deserves protection, not destruction.”

Among the other well-known names opposing the application are actors Dame Joanna Lumley and Sam West, as well as environmentalist Sir Jonathon Porritt.

Dame Joanna said: “To cut down so many trees planted by children to develop a bottling plant is dreadful in so many ways.”

She said: “This 20-year-old forest carrying the hopes of the next generation cannot be replaced.”

HSW is owned by the France-based multinational food-products company Danone and campaigners claim the plan to remove the trees contradicts the firm’s Forest Policy.

Sir Jonathon said: “I’ve spent decades urging companies to turn fine words on forests into real action.

“What Danone is proposing in Harrogate does the opposite.

“You cannot call yourself ‘forest positive’ while cutting down a thriving community woodland planted by children.”

Planning officers have recommended that the plan is approved.

A spokesperson for HSW said: “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 firm says that only 500 trees in the wood will be impacted, rather than the 1,000 cited by the campaigners.

It said it had originally planned to plant around 1,500 trees in its new community woodland, next to Rotary Wood, but reduced this to 491 after advice from North Yorkshire Council’s arboriculturist.