02 August 2007
The National Offender Management Service announced today two competitions for the provision of new prisons at Maghull in Liverpool and Belmarsh West in South London.
The competitions will result in the award of Private Finance Initiative contracts to design, construct, manage and finance the prisons for 25 years. The advertisements announcing the competitions have today been submitted to the Official Journal of the European Union.
The two new prisons are a key part of the capacity programme to deliver 9,500 additional prison spaces by 2012 although it is expected that both prisons will be up and running by 2010.
NOMS has Reserved Matters planning approval to construct a 600-place prison at the Maghull site, and will be submitting an outline planning application for a second 600-place prison in summer at a site owned by NOMS next to the existing Belmarsh prison.
These prisons will be the first to be built since Bronzefield and Peterborough opened in 2004 and 2005; HMP Kennet recently opened in Liverpool as a temporary prison on a five year lease.
Justice Minister David Hanson MP said:
"These new prisons are at the heart of our current expansion plans for the Prison Service. Providing more prison places is a key aim of NOMS and is an essential part of our public protection strategy.
"We need to ensure that there will always be prison places for persistent, violent and dangerous offenders whilst recognising that for many offenders prison is not the best place to address offending behaviour."
Notes to editors:
1 'Reserved Matters' are the conditions that apply to outline planning approval
2 Since 1997 the government has increased prison capacity by nearly 20,000 places. In the last two years there has been an increase of around 3,400 places which includes building additional places at existing prisons and the opening of a new prison.
3 A new capacity-building programme, which will now deliver 9,500 new prison places by 2012 was announced in the Home Office document, Rebalancing the Criminal Justice System in July 2006.
4 The announcement of the preferred bidders will be made in late 2008.
5 For further information please contact Debbie Kirby, Offender Management Press Desk, Ministry of Justice on 0207 210 0638.