Chorley super prison’s enabling works to begin soon
A contractor has been appointed to get started on delivering the 1,715-place Category C facility by HMP Garth in Leyland, a scheme that was approved by the government after being marked for refusal three times – once by the local authority and twice by the Planning Inspectorate.
Laing O’Rourke is understood to have landed the contract for the enabling works, according to media reports.
The other two contractors in the running would have been Kier and Wates, as they are the only other members of the Alliance 4 New Prisons group that was tasked in 2021 by government to deliver new prisons in Buckinghamshire, Chorley, Leicestershire, and East Riding of Yorkshire.
Keir led on the East Riding of Yorkshire prison, which completed in 2025. Wates is at work on the Leicestershire prison and Laing O’Rourke is delivering the Buckinghamshire one.
The Leyland prison is due to have an 802,200 sq ft gross external area, built out on 107 acres of Green Blet. It will comprise of seven four-storey housing blocks, totalling 575,600 sq ft. Each would be capable of holding 245 prisoners.
An assortment of other supporting structures would also be built, including space for kitchens, workshops, kennels, central services. There would also be space for 525 cars to park.
Designed by Pick Everard, the prison is due to be net zero in operation and to achieve a minimum score of BREEAM Excellent. According to the original 2021 plans for the scheme, it was targeting a minimum of 20% biodiversity net gain.
The super prison received planning permission from secretary of state Angela Rayner in December 2024 after it was initially rejected by Chorley Council in 2021. An appeal from the Ministry of Justice was subsequently refused by the Planning Inspectorate in 2022, before being restarted at the government’s insistence.
In 2024, the Planning Inspectorate again recommended the scheme be refused due to impact on Green Belt, amenity of nearby residents, and highway safety.
However, Rayner argued that the need for prison spaces outweighed the potential harm of the scheme.
In addition to Pick Everard, the super prison’s planning team included Cushman & Wakefield, Mace, Ramboll, Tyler Grange, Orion Heritage, Hydrock, Heritage Advisory, Pegasus, E3P, and Atkins.
You can review the planning application for the scheme by searching reference 21/01028/OUTMAJ and the appeal reference is APP/D2320/W/22/3295556.
The news of the enabling contracts award follows the government’s commitment of a £110m package to accelerate the delivery of prison places, with a goal to create 14,000 extra spaces by 2031.
In addition to the new prisons, this work will go towards converting existing space within prisons – such as laundry rooms, storage areas, and offices – into cells.
The £110m will also towards acquiring land for future prisons.
“This government is serious about fixing the broken prison system we inherited, which is why we’ve already delivered more than 3,200 prison places in just two years,” said lord chancellor and justice secretary Alex Norris.
“We’re now investing to boost these efforts further – getting spades in the ground quicker to deliver thousands more places to lock up dangerous criminals and keep the public safe.”
