Plans to build three new prisons as part of a £4.7bn spend will now go ahead after the Treasury signed off on funding, a senior minister has said.
On Wednesday, justice secretary Shabana Mahmood said the Treasury would fund “in full” plans to build the prisons, in a bid to create 14,000 extra places by 2031 to tackle a severe shortage.
More cells will also be added at existing prisons.
It will represent a total capital investment of £4.7bn, she said.
“While the Spending Review is ongoing, I can announce that the Treasury will fund our prison expansion plans, in full, across the Spending Review period,” she said at a Downing Street press conference.
The news was announced as Mahmood warned of a “total breakdown of law and order” if the government failed to tackle the prisons crisis, as she said 99 per cent of men’s jails were full.
Plans for the new prisons have already been progressing, with Wates starting early works last November on a site near HMP Gartree in Leicestershire.
The justice secretary confirmed that ground will be broken at the site “later this year”. Around 1,700 new category B places will be available at the prison.
A Wates spokesperson told Construction News: “Prison overcrowding in the UK is a major issue and we are pleased to be supporting the government to deliver on much-needed expansion plans, including building a new facility next to the existing HMP Gartree site, which will provide more than 1,700 new prison places.”
The two other new prisons are also located near existing jails. One will be close to HMP Grendon and Springhill in the village of Grendon Underwood, Buckinghamshire.
In January last year, the then housing and communities secretary, Michael Gove, approved plans for the £300m prison, which will hold around 1,500 inmates.
ISG was originally confirmed as the contractor on the job early last year prior to the company’s high-profile collapse in September. Laing O’Rourke has since taken over the project.
Laing O’Rourke is part of the New Prisons Alliance, which also includes Kier and Wates, and is tasked with delivering standardised builds across the UK.
The third prison will be on greenbelt land close to HMP Garth near Leyland, Lancashire, and will hold 1,700 inmates.
Last December, housing secretary Angela Rayner overruled the Planning Inspectorate and local council to give the go-ahead to the 800,000sq ft scheme.
The government also published a 10-year prison capacity strategy at around the same time, which includes plans for 6,400 places through new houseblocks and 6,500 places via new prisons.