Council to decide on application to retain 120 accommodation units at Ford Open Prison

The units were installed between October 2020 and May 2021, and were originally intended to stay on a temporary basis. Now, prison bosses are applying to keep them permanently.

Alongside the retention of the units, the plans also provide for a range of associated ancillary units, and councillors are due to decide on the application by May this year.

Commissioned by the Ministry of Justice and designed by Cushman and Wakefield, these modular units were intended to meet short term prison population pressures while construction on long term accommodation takes place. “The units offer a flexible capacity solution that be deployed at pace across the prison estate,” a planning statement from Cushman and Wakefield reads.

"The units will be modern, decent, and offer the prisons a good option to manage their progressive regimes.”

That same statement goes on to say that the project ‘comprises sustainable development’ and 'will not result in any significant, unacceptable (or) insurmountable adverse impacts.”

This newest application comes after the conditional approval last years of plans to build two, two storey houseblocks on the prison site, in May last year.

To find out more about the application, search for F/3/23/PL on the Arun District Planning portal.

“The proposal is required to accommodate an increasing prison population, which is currently forecast to increase over the next ten years, reaching unprecedented levels by the end of the decade,” the application’s statement read.

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