Spending Review: Old Prisons to be replaced and make way for housing
The government has announced that a number of existing prisons will be replaced with new purpose built facilities freeing up valuable city centre land for housing. This strategy has clear benefits for the communities affected and hopefully further sites will be identified to bring similar schemes forward.
Nine new prisons will open in England and Wales - five by 2020 - under plans to close Victorian jails and sell them for housing, the government has said.About 10,000 inmates will transfer to the new institutions in an attempt to save an estimated £80m a year.The move will form part of the spending review due on 25 November.Reading jail will be sold first, with Wellingborough, Bullwood Hall, Essex, Camp Hill on the Isle of Wight, and Blundeston, Suffolk, likely to follow.The five sites have already closed and are awaiting "disposal", said the Ministry of Justice. ”