The problem for the MoJ is that three of their prime sites, including Buckinghamshire, are all subject to planning appeals and furious local opposition. Longer sentences and an extra 20,000 police officers on the streets are expected to lead to some 15,000 more offenders in custody. The new Buckinghamshire jail is part of a proposed £4 billion prison-building programme to house the surge in inmates forecast in the next decade.
Such a move is only taken where the decision is of national significance. So important is this battle that Michael Gove, the Levelling up Secretary, has called in the planning application which was rejected by the local Tory-controlled Buckinghamshire council and appealed by the MoJ, sparking a public inquiry. “It was definitely David vs Goliath,” he added. “I know this is strategically the wrong place to put a prison of this size and mass,” said Mr Hayes, whose expertise was so valued at the public inquiry into the plans that the local council’s barrister asked him to help cross-examine the MoJ witnesses. They are led by Edgcott resident Daniel Hayes, who is well-qualified for the role: he worked for 28 years in the criminal justice system, first in the prison service, then managing offenders and as a consultant in designing jails.
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