THE Government has been urged to re-think legislation which could cost 100 jobs at a spring water company.
Abbey Well, in Morpeth, Northumberland, will be jeopardised by plans to impose 12-year licences on the bottled mineral water industry, according to Wansbeck MP Denis Murphy.
He echoed the company's concern that investors would be unwilling to give money to a company which had such a short tenure.
The company, which has been bottling natural mineral water since 1910, currently has an unlimited licence and plans to expand.
Abbey Well is the region's only supplier of natural mineral water.
It takes between 3,000 and 5,000 years for the water to filter through the sandstone rock 387ft below ground before it is pumped back up and bottled. It is untreated, and bottled without any additives other than carbon dioxide for the sparkling version.
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