Decision on controversial prison will not be made until next spring

The final decision on controversial £300million prison is not set to be made until next spring.

Government has revealed it will not make a decision on a controversial super prison until next spring after it recovered the application.

An appeal was lodged by the Ministry of Justice after Harborough District Council’s unanimous decision to reject the application earlier this year.

And Secretary of State for department of levelling up, housing and communities, Greg Clark, says government’s decision to recover the appeal – which means a planning inspector will decide if work should go ahead – was decided against ministerial statements. They include proposals for developments of major importance having more than local significance, and proposals against which another government department has raised major objections or has a major interest.

The appeal will begin on October 4.

Harborough MP Neil O’Brien has already lodged a formal complaint against the prison citing issues with sustainability and poor transport levels, drainage issues and impact on wildlife, along with low levels of unemployment in the town.

He says the recovered appeal means a decision on the prison – which would be based next to the existing HMP Gartee and house 1,700 inmates – will not be made until next year.

Mr O’Brien told the Mail: “The appeal being recovered doesn’t really change much in terms of how the appeal process will work. The public hearings will still happen in October and the independent inspector still recommends what to do on the basis of the law.

“I argued for them not to recover it, so that we can get a result sooner and end the uncertainty, but they recover applications judged to be of national significance, and have done the same for other prisons and the like. It does however mean that there won’t be a final decision until next spring.

“I and local campaigners against the jail being put here will continue to make the case that this would be the wrong place. There isn’t the public transport to get people there, and it would mean more traffic past the primary school and along country roads. This prison is a national not a local institution and it could be put anywhere in the country. I simply do not believe that there is no better site anywhere in this country. In reality there are brownfield sites crying out for regeneration and the jobs this will bring to wherever it goes.

“I think that the public hearings will bear out the fact that our local councillors acted correctly and lawfully by turning down this prison. Harborough is one of few councils with an up to date and in-force local plan. Councillors worked hard to make that plan and this prison is not it.”

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.