Plans for new super prison in Lancashire given go-ahead after government overrules inspector

• ITV Granada Reports journalist Victoria Grimes met those protesting the building of a third prison

Controversial plans for a new prison have been given the go-ahead by the government - despite being rejected by planning inspectors twice.

The new 'super prison' will house 1,715 inmates on the border of Chorley and Leyland on land close to HMP Garth and HMP Wymott.

An application for the Ulnes Walton jail was refused by Chorley Council in 2021, with a subsequent appeal - and then follow-up - by the government rejected both times by the planning inspector over concerns about the impact construction of the prison would have on the highway.

But, Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner said she disagreed with the conclusions of the planning inspector and instead granted the plans.

Protesters say they are disappointed and deflated at the decision, but after fighting the plans for four years do not intend to give up.

Alison, who has lived near the prison for 18 years, said: "We moved here knowing the two prisons are here and that's fine and we do live in harmony with the prisons.

"But a third one at the size they want to do it and just people making decisions, they are not experts that have made the prison."

The plans from the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) would see the Category C resettlement prison house low risk male prisoners at the end of their sentences.

When it was first proposed the blueprint was thrown out by Chorley Council's planning committee in December 2021.

However, the Ministry of Justice later appealed against that decision and a public inquiry was launched in 2022, chaired by an independent inspector.

In January 2023, the inspector recommended the appeal be dismissed and the plans rejected over road safety concerns and its “harmful” impact on the appearance of the area.

But a letter published by the Department of Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC), stated they were "minded to" allow the development as long as road safety concerns were satisfactorily addressed.

To establish whether or not that was the case, the inquiry was reopened in March 2024 and heard further evidence from the MoJ, Chorley Council and locals opposing the prison.

After considering the fresh submissions - which included a claim by a highways witness appearing on behalf of Chorley Council that HGVs could be travelling along the narrow Ulnes Walton Lane at a rate of one every 90 seconds during some periods of the prison construction - it was again recommended the appeal be refused.

In a report, planning inspector Tom Gilbert-Wooldridge acknowledged that while new proposals to lessen the impact of the development on the local road network had “improved” the position since the first inquiry was held, “there remain unmitigated and uncertain effects that would exacerbate existing hazards and risk”.

He found that building the prison would “continue to have an unacceptable impact on highway safety” – and so would be contrary to elements of local and national planning policy.

But while Ms Rayner, acting in her capacity as Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, agreed with some of the highways issues raised by the inspector, but considered they would cause “limited harm”.

Paul Parker, from the Ulnes Walton Action Group, questioned the wisdom of putting a category C prison – some of whose inmates could be eligible for day release in the run-up to the end of their sentence – in such a rural area.

“It’s being built in the wrong place – it’d be better to put [the prisoners] into a local environment where they could get to work easily," he said.

“There are alternative sites that the inspector agreed with us about, such as [the existing] HMP Kirkham and Stakehill Industrial Estate near Oldham."

The permission granted by Ms Rayner is in outline form, meaning full details of the development will still have to be approved by Chorley Council.

The authority’s cabinet member for planning, Alistair Morwood, said of the decision that it was “disappointing that the concerns of local people haven’t been listened to”.

“An inspector has turned this application down twice. The minister has acknowledged the concerns raised – however the decision has still gone ahead.

“We now hope that the concerns raised by residents and the local action group are addressed in the detailed planning which will follow.”

The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government has been approached for comment.

The new Labour government has committed to the previous Conservative administration’s policy of creating an extra 20,000 prison places. An early release scheme was implemented for over 5,000 prisoners this autumn, as jails neared capacity.