Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what assessment he has made of the potential effect on local traffic levels of the proposed Category C prison at Full Sutton; and if he will make a statement.

The department remains committed to previously announced plans, subject to planning approvals, value for money and affordability, to build six category C modern prisons which, along with the reorganisation of the existing estate, will provide the physical conditions for Governors to achieve better educational, training and rehabilitative outcomes.

A revised Outline Planning Application for a new, modern category C prison at Full Sutton has been submitted to East Riding of Yorkshire planning authority and documents making up the application, including a thorough Traffic Assessment (TA), will be publicly available on the local authority’s planning portal in the coming days. The conclusion of the new TA, revised from the original iteration to account for the increase in capacity, is that the highway network surrounding the new prison is expected to continue to operate within capacity during both the construction and operational phases.

We will continue to engage with local stakeholders as we develop our plans for the new prison which forms a crucial part of the department’s commitment to deliver modern, safe and decent accommodation.