An appeal was launched by the Ministry of Justice to challenge Chorley Council planning committee’s rejection of the proposal for the construction of a third prison on the land adjacent to HMP Garth and HMP Wymott.
Following this, many of you contacted me to express your views on the proposals. I conducted a survey, to allow you to have your say as I wanted to be able to best represent your views on the proposals. I would like to express enormous thanks to those of you who took the time to complete the survey.
The results of the survey show a strong and clear message from South Ribble residents. The overwhelming majority of residents believe that the development of a third prison on the land adjacent to HMP Garth and HMP Wymott should not take place.
My survey shows that residents believe the development would lead to increased road congestion, loss of green spaces, increased noise pollution and decreased road safety.
With this almost unanimous view from residents, I have written to the Planning Inspectorate to object to the proposal and call for the plans to be abandoned in their current form.
I cannot support the current plans. They require significant reform to address poor local transport infrastructure and an inappropriate access point to the site. I have proposed the idea that plans must include additional infrastructure provision and allow for access to the site from the North-West instead of the South-East.
The text of my letter can be found in the pictures below. If you would like a pdf copy of the survey report, please do not hesitate to email me at Katherine.fletcher.mp@parliament.uk
