Government promises to build four new prisons - including one near Greater Manchester

The Government has said it will build four new prisons within the next seven years - including one near Greater Manchester.

The Ministry of Justice (MoJ) has promised to find a total of 14,000 cell spaces in jails by 2031 in a bid to grip the overcrowding crisis. Some 6,400 of these prison places will be at newly built facilities, with £2.3bn going towards these cost over the next two years.

It comes after deputy Prime Minister and Ashton-under-Lyne MP Angela Rayner approved controversial plans for a new prison in Lancashire. The 1,715-inmate facility in Ulnes Walton had been rejected by Chorley council and twice again by a planning inspector.

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Plans for the Category C prison, which is set to be built on land close to the existing HMP Garth and HMP Wymott sites, was subject to a planning inquiry in the summer of 2022 which was reopened in March of this year after the previous Conservative government disagreed with the inspector's conclusion. But planning inspector Tom Gilbert-Wooldridge still recommended the appeal was refused.

Ms Rayner, who has the final say on the plans, agreed with some of the highways concerns raised by the inspector, but ruled they would cause 'limited harm'. The decision to approve the prison was made on her behalf by planning minister Matthew Pennycook.

The government is also planning to build new prisons in Yorkshire, Buckinghamshire and Leicestershire, according to reports. The remaining prison places needed will be found by measures including building new wings at existing jails, or by refurbishing cells currently out of action, and an extra £500m will go towards 'vital building maintenance', the MoJ said today (December 11).

The move is part of a 10-year plan to “make sure we can always lock up dangerous criminals”. Prisons will be deemed sites of “national importance” amid efforts to prevent lengthy planning delays, and new land will be bought for future prisons, the MoJ added.

The announcement comes after government estimates published last week indicated more than 100,000 prisoners could be held in jails in England and Wales by 2029. This followed warnings from Whitehall’s spending watchdog that Government plans to boost prison capacity could fall short by thousands of cell spaces within two years, and cost the taxpayer billions of pounds more than anticipated.

Since September thousands of inmates have been freed early in a bid to cut jail overcrowding, by temporarily reducing the proportion of sentences which some prisoners must serve behind bars in England and Wales, from 50 per cent to 40 per cent. But prisons are still expected to reach critical capacity again by July.

MoJ figures show there were 86,089 adult prisoners behind bars in England and Wales on Monday. The so-called operational capacity for English and Welsh men’s and women’s prisons is 88,822, indicating there is now cell space for 2,733 criminals.

Pavan Dhaliwal, chief executive of charity Revolving Doors, said: “We cannot simply build our way out of this crisis, increasing prison capacity and improving the condition of the estate is necessary but must come hand in hand with the commitment to exploring alternatives to custody which the Government is examining via its sentencing review.”

Andrea Coomber, chief executive of the Howard League for Penal Reform, said the money earmarked for opening new jails “would be better invested in securing an effective and responsive probation service, working to cut crime in the community”.

Justice Secretary Shabana Mahmood agreed that “building alone” will not be enough to deal with the overcrowding crisis. She said: “The last Government pretended they could send people away for longer and longer without building the prisons they promised.

“This strategy reveals that their prison building plans were years delayed and nearly £5 billion over budget. They left our prisons in crisis, on the edge of collapse.

“Part of our plan for change, this capacity strategy, alongside an independent review of sentencing policy, will keep our streets safe and ensure no government runs out of prison places again.”