Government grants permission for new prison despite council rejecting plans

The Government has overruled a local council by overturning its decision to deny planning permission for a new prison.

The application by the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) for a new 1,700-capacity prison on land adjacent to HMP Gartree in Market Harborough, Leicestershire, had been previously rejected by Harborough District Council and deemed unsuitable by the Planning Inspectorate.

But after an appeal by the MoJ to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC), the scheme has now been given planning permission after a review by the Communities Secretary, Michael Gove.

The MoJ said that the decision was “critical” in its bid to build 20,000 modern prison places, but the district council said the decision was “disappointing”.

Councillor Phil Knowles, leader of Harborough District Council, said: “This is deeply disappointing news. The planning committee refused this.

“The community have real and justified fears for the infrastructure’s ability to cope.

“I still maintain my view that this is the wrong place to build this.

“The Government are intent on pushing this through – they will need to provide huge investment into the community and the infrastructure to help offset some of the negative impact on our community. I will be pushing for an early meeting to discuss this.”

A council spokesperson said that it acknowledged the Secretary of State’s decision and that it would seek to understand how the development’s impact could be mitigated.

The MoJ had originally submitted an outline application to the council in September 2021 to build the new Category B training prison with seven house blocks containing up to 245 prisoners.

It comes as the UK’s prison population has increased substantially since the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020, with more than 88,000 prisoners incarcerated according to recent figures.

Figures show the number of people held on remand is up by more than 60%, from 9,500 before the pandemic to 15,500 at the end of June, with plans announced in the King’s Speech to increase the use of electronic tags.

But in a report written to the DLUHC in January this year, Hayley Butcher, an inspector for the Planning Inspectorate, concluded that the proposed site “would cause harm to the character and appearance of the surrounding area” and was not a “suitable location for the proposed development in terms of accessibility”.

Several local residents had also objected to the scheme, as had Neil O’Brien, the Conservative MP for Harborough, Oadby & Wigston.

However, in a report issued by the DLUHC, it was said that the Secretary of State “agrees with the Inspector’s conclusions… but disagrees with the Inspector’s recommendation”, instead granting permission to build the prison.

An MoJ spokesperson said: “Today’s decision at Gartree is critical to delivering the 20,000 extra places we need to keep dangerous offenders off the streets and will boost the local economy by creating hundreds of new jobs.”