Prisons: Construction

(asked on 20th January 2021) - View Source

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, if he will publish the assessment his Department made which led to the consultation on a new 1,400 capacity prison on land adjacent to HMP Grendon and HMP Springhill.


Answered by
Lucy Frazer Portrait
Lucy Frazer
Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport
This question was answered on 25th January 2021

The Ministry of Justice considered land that it owns and sought information from other major land-owning government departments for details on land potentially suitable for a new prison site. An external search of suitable privately-owned land was also conducted. Following this exercise, land that was suitable and available was considered by the MoJ for use. The land available adjacent to HMP Grendon and HMP Springhill meets the relevant criteria, and is already owned by the MoJ and therefore was shortlisted as potentially suitable for a new prison build. The remaining list of shortlisted sites cannot be published because this is commercially sensitive information which, if shared, may undermine our ability to deliver.

The land adjacent to HMP Bullingdon was not put forward by any other government department as a potential site that met our criteria and was available for use.

Surveys have been carried out to determine whether the construction of a new prison is practical at the Grendon and Springhill site and they concluded that it is. Should a planning application be pursued here, the details of these works will be submitted to the local planning authority for review. At this point they will also be made available to the public via the planning portal.

We considered brownfield sites in England and Wales as part of the site selection process, but are unable to disclose a list as this is commercially sensitive information and may hinder future development requirements, as we deliver on our commitment for 18,000 additional prison places.

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