Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether her Department made an environmental impact assessment prior to the commencement of expansion works at HMP Channings Wood; and whether baseline data on (a) air and (b) noise pollution was collected to measure the potential impact of increased traffic on local residents.

Under the previous Government, ahead of delivery at HMP Channings Wood, an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) screening template was completed by our delivery partner (Cushman & Wakefield) and submitted to the council. Using this template and supporting technical assessments, the Local Planning Authority decided that an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) was not required. The Local Planning Authority did not consider the expansion to have significant environmental effects and therefore would not require an EIA.

An Air Quality Assessment was undertaken in support of the original planning application. The baseline assessment used published data (Teignbridge Council’s 2020 Annual Status Report (TDC 2021)) to consider the impacts of the proposed development and identify the future air quality conditions that occupants will experience. The assessment was based on measurements made during 2019 (i.e. pre-pandemic activity) to ensure worse case assessment. The future air quality conditions of the proposed development are acceptable with concentrations well below air quality objectives throughout the site. Additional traffic generated by the proposed development will be below published thresholds.

Alongside this, a Baseline Assessment of Noise was carried out on 14 October 2024 (daytime) and 15 October 2024 (nighttime) to assess ambient and background noise levels in a number of locations across the prison estate nearest to sensitive noise receptors. This has given us baseline data for noise levels from the prison.