Plans for brand new super-prison signed off – however residents have one key concern

Plans to build a so-called super prison have finally been approved after years of being trapped in a planning permission saga under the Tories.

Housing minister Matthew Pennycook overruled planning inspectors to sign off a jail for 1,700 inmates as Labour vows to be “builders not blockers”. The new prison will be built near the border of Chorley and Leyland, Lancs, next to existing prisons HMP Garth and HMP Wymott.

But locals have been raising one key concern. The controversial project had been put on hold after Chorley council raised a key concern about harm to the Green Belt – countryside land usually protected from building work.

Fears have also been raised about a surge of new car journeys in the local area, including deliveries and prisoner movements, with no appropriate public transport alternatives and no road improvements. The planning inspector recommended the project be refused after chairing an inquiry into the plans, saying the proposal would “have an unacceptable impact on highway safety”.

But Housing Secretary Angela Rayner has concluded that any potential harms are “clearly outweighed by the benefits”. These include that a modern prison would “enable greater social benefits for prisoners to help with their rehabilitation and reduce reoffending rates”, as well as resulting in “significant employment and investment”.

It comes after Whitehall’s spending watchdog released a damning report criticising the Tories’ failure to build more prison places. The National Audit Office said the crisis was a “consequence of previous governments’ failure” to properly fund prisons while increasing the length of prison sentences.

Taxpayers are set to pay £4billion more than expected to build new prison places after the Tories botched their plans. The jail expansion programme is now expected to cost between £9.4billion and £10.1billion.

The Labour government was forced to release thousands of prisoners early when it was elected as jails were full. The new administration has promised to focus on driving down reoffending rates as well as building new prisons. A sentencing review has also been launched.

A Ministry of Justice source said: “On the day the last government was lambasted by the NAO for their planning failures, this new Government has shown that we will do what it takes to get prisons built.”

Paul Parker, from the Ulnes Walton Action Group, told the Lancashire Telegraph: “I don’t know what the [Secretary of State’s] understanding is of planning or road safety matters – she has obviously got advisors – but she can then completely go against the independent view of the planning inspector. Now she has that right as a minister – but who would you trust?”