Lancaster prison expansion plan given green light

The prison’s capacity will rise from 549 to 669 inmates, with the Ministry of Justice citing a need for extra prison places being a key factor behind the plans.

Sports England had objected to the proposed removal of the prison’s current outdoor playing facilities and replacement with a smaller seven-a-side multi-sports surface elsewhere on the site.

The Ministry of Justice can now build two new house blocks at the site, along with a workshop and storage buildings.

The prison currently employs 488 people, which could rise to 494.

A Ministry of Justice planning report stated: “The [national] prison population is forecast to increase over the next 10 years, reaching unprecedented levels by the end of the decade.

"This rise is being driven by government policy decisions to reform the criminal justice system (e.g. the impact of 23,000 more police officers and recent changes to sentencing), on top of an ongoing increase in the number of long-sentenced offenders.

“The ministry and its executive agency, HM Prisons & Probation Service, are embarking on the most ambitious initiative of prison expansion in over a century, delivering 20,000 additional prison places through projects representing an investment of £3.8 billion.

"These projects will offer the taxpayer value for money and also support suppliers and builders across the country.”

Lancaster Farms opened in 1993 as a purpose-built prison.

It has previously been a young offenders’ institution and remand centre hosting juvenile prisoners, but in 2014 was re-roled to hold category-C adult male prisoners from the north west.

The prison provides residents with the opportunity to develop so they can find work and resettle back into society following release.

A Lancaster City Council planning report stated: “The development will provide additional prison places to meet the significant need for the additional prison capacity.

“Consideration has been given to the potential impact of the development including on highways, landscape and visual receptors and flood risk and drainage. The issue of the impact on existing playing pitches has also been afforded appropriate consideration.”