PLANS have been put forward to expand a men’s open prison near Wotton.

The Ministry of Justice recently submitted a planning application to South Gloucestershire Council to expand HMP Leyhill. 

Proposals include building two new housing blocks, a healthcare unit, a workshop, boiler house, offender management unit and a staff changing facility.

The facility is a category D open prison with lower security where eligible prisoners can spend most of the day away from the prison on licence.

According to the application, if approved and after construction is finished, the prison would be able to take on an additional 240 inmates. 

The site currently has around 475 prisoners and would bring its total to 715.

If approved, it is believed 25 new full-time jobs would be created - bringing the number of people employed at the site to 230. 

An artist's impression of one of the proposed housing blocks at HMP Leyhill (Image: Ministry of Justice)

Proposals also include creating 22 new parking spaces including one disabled parking bay, five EV charging points and installing a new bike shelter. 

The application states the existing offender management unit has been “condemned” and is no longer being used.

The proposed offender management unit would also include two interview rooms, two office spaces, a staff kitchen area, a storage area plus toilets. 

Meanwhile, the two new housing blocks - which are two storey - would be able to house a total of 120 residents. 

Each block would have 60 individual bedrooms, each with its own ensuite. On each floor there would be a laundry room and a kitchen.

The plans come amid increasing concerns about a lack of spaces in UK prisons.

Where the proposed housing blocks could be built at HMP Leyhill (Image: Ministry of Justice)

It is understood the planning application forms part of the Ministry of Justice's prison expansion programme which was approved in June 2020. 

A planning document reads: “The project aligns with the Ministry of Justice's strategic goals to ensure that prisons offer safe, productive, and decent living and working environments, safeguard the public from offender-related harm, diminish reoffending rates, and enhance the prospects for offenders.

“The scope of work for ancillary buildings comprise of 1 expansion and refurbishment to
existing block (healthcare unit block), 3 new standalone blocks and 1 refurbishment of the boiler house.”

It continues: “The prison population is forecast to increase over the next decade reaching unprecedented levels. 

“In October 2023 over 88,000 people were imprisoned in an estate with a maximum
capacity of 88,890. 

“The prison estate is operating at 99% of its usable operational capacity and
over 60% of prisons are overcrowded.”

The application was submitted on Wednesday, June 19. 

You can view the application quoting P24/01229/F or see here - tinyurl.com/3m5bchs4