Chorley prison energy facility gets the green light as parking row reignited
Construction of a third prison in a Chorley village has moved a step closer after plans for the energy centre needed to power it were given the green light.
Chorley Council’s planning committee approved the facility, which will be built alongside the controversial new lock-up in Ulnes Walton, close to the existing Garth and Wymott jails.
However, a wrangle over parking for the 1,715-inmate prison – near the border with Leyland – was reignited in the process.
The government gave the go-ahead to the category C jail in December 2024, three years after it was refused permission by the local authority – and following an appeal by the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) which saw a planning inspector twice recommend that the council’s decision be upheld.
As part of that ministerial approval, outline permission was granted for the energy supply building and an ‘executive cabin’ that will also be required. The borough authority has now given the nod to the detailed plans for those structures.
The planning committee meeting heard that the ancillary facilities would replace existing buildings on the site – and Claire Walker, the agent for the application, highlighted that the energy centre would be “significantly reduced in size compared to the [present] boiler house”.
However, the area where the replacement will be built is currently used as an informal car park – and around 15 spaces will be lost as a result. Ms. Walker said that a 31-space car park would be created near HMP Wymott – delivering an “overall net increase”.
But committee member Cllr Debra Platt questioned whether the extra capacity represented the additional volume actually “required” – or just what could be “fitted into” the plans.
She said nearby residents believed more parking bays were needed because of the number of people already leaving their vehicles on residential routes on the surrounding estate
A total of 525 spaces were proposed for the new prison as part of the MoJ blueprint that was ultimately approved by the Ministry of Housing Communities and Local Government – an arm of central government, like the MoJ itself – just over a year ago.
The planning inspector who chaired the appeal against Chorley Council’s initial refusal of permission noted that the remote nature of the site and lack of public transport options made it “eminently likely” that the vast majority of staff would travel to work by car – and that the car park would be “too full during the day”, once visitors were also factored in.
In that scenario, Tom Gilbert-Wooldridge concluded people could be expected to park on Moss Lane and other roads to the north of the site “given that there are no parking restrictions and there is plenty of available space”.
However, at the committee meeting, Chorley Council’s principal planning officer, Iain Crossland, said that the MoJ only had to “replace what’s lost” in terms of parking space in order for there to be “no identifiable harm” from the energy centre application. He also stressed that parking was one of the matters already determined at the outline stage – and so was not up for fresh consideration.
Committee member Cllr Alan Whittaker said he would vote against the so-called ‘reserved matters’ plans “as a matter of principle” – describing the government’s overturning of the council’s original decision as “disgraceful.”
But his committee colleague, Cllr Adrian Lowe, said that members were being asked to consider a “narrow” application regarding the energy facility – and that deliberation over that issue was not a reason to “re-run” the argument about parking. The plans were approved by a majority of eight votes to two.