Ministry of Justice spend £255,000 in 'David and Goliath battle' over super prison near Harborough

It has been revealed the Ministry of Justice spent more than £255,000 on lawyers in a ‘David and Goliath battle’ over a super prison near Harborough.

A Freedom of Information request by Gartree Action Group – a campaign group opposing the prison – revealed the money was for external lawyers and other expertise to prepare for the public inquiry. It took place last month to decide on plans for the £300million jail.

The group, which is made up of local villagers, says by contrast they had a legal budget of £27,000 to pay for legal representation, with most of the funding from fundraising, pledges and parish council contributions.

Diana Cook, from Gartree Action Group, said: “Harborough District Council’s planning committee rejected the plans and once the Ministry of Justice appealed, we knew the public inquiry wouldn’t be a fair contest – we were taking on a government department and it was like David versus Goliath. £255,000 is a lot of money, it could be used to pay the salaries of several nurses, for example.

“Overall though, with the government needing to make billions of pounds of spending cuts they should reconsider the millions proposed on building a new prison in this unsustainable location where it is likely to become a huge white elephant. They already have a prison here that they cannot staff adequately and the outcomes for prisoners are considerably affected by staffing levels.”

In its Freedom of Information response to the group, the Ministry of Justice said: “This figure does not include the cost of the in-house staff resource and external project management consultant costs, as these teams work across a number of projects within the New Prisons Programme and do not allocate their time to specific projects."

The appeal by the Ministry of Justice was held after Harborough district councillors unanimously voted against the plans citing concerns about the impact of traffic and developing on open countryside.

There had also been some 364 objections. A petition against the development also received some 2,000 signatures.

But the MOJ argued the prison would bring great investment to the area.

A MOJ spokeswoman said: “The proposed prison alongside the existing one at Gartree is a key part of government’s plan to cut reoffending and keep the public safe.”