Campaigners say evidence for super prison near Harborough is ‘flimsy’

Campaigners are against the prison which would be built next to the current Gartree Prison

Campaigners have hit out at the case for a super prison near Market Harborough saying evidence is ‘flimsy’.

A report by Gartree Action Group which was submitted to the planning inspector says the forecast demand for places which was used by the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) was out by some 4,200 places – the equivalent to two mega prisons.

Plans to build a new £300million prison, the size of 13 football pitches, next to HMP Gartree were unanimously thrown out by Harborough District Council last April. But a public inquiry was held in the autumn after the Ministry of Justice appealed the decision.

The campaign group says during the public enquiry last October, the MoJ said there was an increased demand of 87,000 places by January 2023 as shown in the 2021 Prison Population Projections.

But campaigners say the actual figure was nearly 83,000.

It comes after the group revealed last month that Gartree prison had 55 vacancies, and questioned whether the neighbouring super prison could be fully staffed.

Group spokeswoman Kay Hoggett said: “The new evidence presented here, primarily about the prison population projections, but also about staffing and public transport, materially affects the planning balance in the case for a new prison at Gartree.

“The MoJ built its case around the flimsy demand projected in the 2021 projection, which is now confirmed as too high. The 2022 projection indicates lower demand, probably much lower, and less urgent. The MoJ shows in the 2022 projection that it is not in a position to project demand; the level of uncertainty is too great. The new information on local prison staffing challenges and the likely loss of the only public transport service to Gartree further undermine the appellant’s case.”

“This level of uncertainty means that the 2022 projection cannot be relied upon as a basis for capacity planning. The only thing that is certain is that the 2021 projection was far too high.”

The MoJ declined to give a comment but said prisons have already reached capacity and the number of inmates has risen by 1,700 since the start of January.