Campaigners urge planning inspectors to visit site of proposed super prison and see the impact it would have on traffic

It would be built next to the current HMP Gartree near Harborough.
The proposed prison site.The proposed prison site.
The proposed prison site.

Campaigners against a proposed prison are calling on the planning inspector to visit the site of the controversial facility.

It follows an appeal lodged by the Ministry of Justice (MOJ) after Harborough District Council’s unanimous decision to reject the application earlier this year. The appeal is due to start in October.

District Cllr Phil Knowles for Great Bowden and Arden Ward says access to the controversial proposed development is through narrow country lanes which would cause congestion, particularly at peak times when Foxton School opens and closes.

In a formal complaint he has also raised concerns about the impact on air quality, an increase in light pollution and the proposal going against both Harborough Local Plan and the Lubenham Neighbourhood Plan.

Along with calling for the inspector to visit the area, Cllr Knowles has also requested to speak at the hearing.

He said: “As a local councillor and campaigner my concerns are considerable. The proposed development is unsustainable by virtue of its location, size, scale and design.

“Having the development, if approved, would bring major pressures on to an already overstretched infrastructure. .

"I feel it is reasonable for me to argue that the necessary travel into the new development from a much wider area negates any claims to this being provided for locally. Surrounding roads will see major increases in vehicular movement and I would respectfully request that at rush hour the inspector travels from the Gartree Crossroads through into Great Bowden, sees the centre of this nearby historic village and considers the pressures onwards from the village through to Corby and to Market Harborough Railway Station.”

If approved the new prison would be housed next to 57-year-old HMP Gartree and would house some 1,700 male inmates.

Councillors voted against the plans at a meeting earlier this year citing concerns about the impact of traffic and developing on open countryside. They had also received 364 objections amid fears over growing pollution, poor air quality and loud noise.

But the MOJ argued that the plans would bring great investment to the area.