Warrington Residents Against Prison Proposal

The announcement is just out and it’s official:

There is to be no prison in Warrington.

The list of Prisons is as follows:

• Beam Park West (East London)
• Chelmsford (Essex)
• Belmarsh
• RAF Coltishall (Norfolk)
• Maghull (Merseyside)

In addition to the five listed above, Little Hey Prison (Cambridgeshire) is set to be expanded.

You can read all about it here.

Quote from Jack Straw on 27/04/09:

“I can tell the House that we will not be pursuing a prison on the Omega site in Warrington.”

Thanks to all of you for your sterling efforts over the last 6 months.  We couldn’t have done it without you.

We’ll update the site again soon - we just wanted to pass on the good news as soon as we heard it, but in the meantime, let’s sit back and take it all in.

You can rest assured that it’s down to all of your hard work and determination, as noted by Jack Straw on numerous occasions, and without it, we wouldn’t be where we are today.

Time to celebrate, relax and get on with our lives.

Update to follow…

Although possibly a little too late, the Ministry of Justice have, under the Freedom of Information Act, released the full list of sites under consideration for the building of Titan Prisons.

This list can be found on the MoJ Website - There are 76 locations on the list.  Two of them (yes, two!) in Warrington, one in Widnes, three in Wigan and one in St Helens (Stoke-on-Trent has 11 potential sites listed).

The two locations in Warrington are the Omega Development and one in Appleton - Dennow Farm.

It’s no wonder that the MoJ kept this quiet for so long.  According to one newspaper:

“They said it had been proving difficult to gain planning permission for the Titans. One proposed site, in Warrington, Cheshire, sparked ferocious protests.“

You bet it did.

Keep your comments coming - we’re reading every one of them.

We thank you for your support so far, and know that if we have to, we can rely on you all to come together again to fight the cause.  Just because the Titan Prisons have been scrapped, it doesn’t mean that the idea has gone altogether.  We are Warrington Residents Against Prison Proposal.

The Ministry of Justice will be announcing the list of the 5 proposed “smaller” (yet still very large) 1,500 place prisons tomorrow (Monday 27 April).  We’ll keep you updated.

After discovering that the government have less money left in the kitty than they thought, Jack Straw, MP, Minister for Justice has announced that he is scrapping plans to build any Titan Prisons.

You can read the full story here.

However, let’s not assume that our campaign is over just yet.  Whilst the scrapping of Titan Prisons is fantastic news for us and for everyone concerned, we have to face the reality that the Ministry of Justice have had their eyes on the Omega site for some time, and whilst it was on the list as being a “suitable” site for a Titan prison, we should assume that they are still looking at this site until we are either told otherwise or we see something sensible happening with the land at Omega.

Thanks to everyone who has contacted us today to discuss the news item, please keep your comments coming in, but what we would also ask is that you stay on board, keep visiting the site, as we are making progress - thanks to all of you - but we’re not quite there yet.

It looks as though the MoJ are using standard letters when replying to concerned residents.  Whilst it looks like a great deal of care and attention has gone into hand-crafting the response that arrives through your letter box or in your inbox, here’s a show of what’s really going on.  Note the casual use of search and replace and the schoolboy error of leaving in previous correspondents details.

Of course, we’ve blanked all of the details out, but we were surprised to find the full contact details of the person who last received this letter.  Interesting what the “Track Changes” feature can do.  We’ve only inclused the first page, but you get the idea.  You can see the letter in its intended format on the Letters to Residents page.

Response from the Ministry of Standard Letters - Click to enlarge

What a disappointing way to respond to a serious question.

Keep your letters going to the people on our Useful Contacts page - and let us know if you’d like us to publish any of the responses you get.

As you may know, we were in Warrington Town Centre this Saturday outside the Skittles with our Street Stall.  We received an overwhelming response from shoppers, passers-by and residents, which gave people the chance to stop and discuss the issue, and voice their concerns with us as well as giving us their support.

In excess of 4,000 leaflets were handed out asking residents to email Jack Straw and MP’s Helen Jones and Helen Southworth with their objections to the proposal.

Thanks for the turnout and for your support.  You can still help us by keeping the pressure on Jack Straw and our MP’s Helen Jones and Helen Southworth.

Street Stall

Referring back to a previous post, where we asked David Hanson, MP - Minister for Prisons to comment regarding the Government’s position on Warrington being a site for a Titan Prison, we’ve had a response.

You won’t be surprised to hear that it didn’t specifically answer either of the questions posed to the Minister, which were around the decision date and other sites in England.  But he is aware of local opposition.

Below is a copy of the letter:

Response from David Hanson, MP - Minister for Prisons - Click to enlarge

Thanks, Mr Hanson, for keeping us waiting and telling us nothing that we didn’t already know.

We can also add that our MP’s, Helen Jones and Helen Southworth have also yet to respond to the same questions.  To date, they have also still not signed up to the Early Day Motion.  Thank you to those MP’s who have signed up.

We need you all to keep up the pressure on Jack Straw and let him be under no illusion that we are absolutely opposed to these proposals.

As for Helen Jones and Helen Southworth, their silence so far has been noted.  We need to get them to stand up for Warrington, to answer our questions and to sign the Early Day Motion.  It’s not too much to ask of our MP’s is it?  Their contact details are on the Useful Contacts page or click on their names in this post to email them.

Members of WRAPP and Supporters will be in Warrington Town Centre this Saturday (28th March) from 10am until 12.  We’re meeting outside the Skittles and will have a street stall where we will be handing out leaflets and gathering your support.  Please come and show your support on the day.

An Early Day Motion has been put to Parliament, which states:

“That this House notes that the Government’s proposals for Titan-style prisons have been widely condemned by those in the prison sector, including the Chief Inspector of Prisons, the Prison Governors’ Association, the Prison Officers’ Association and the Criminal Justice Alliance; further notes that the Prison Reform Trust cites overwhelming evidence against the likely effectiveness of very large prisons, including higher re-offending rates and greater risks to the safety of both inmates and prison staff; further notes that the Government has admitted that increases in capacity do not offer a sustainable solution to the problem of overcrowding in prisons; further notes that the estimated cost of Titan prisons is escalating, with the cost now estimated to between 1.7 billion and 2.3 billion; and calls for an immediate end to the plan for Titan prisons and a commitment to building smaller, fit-for-purpose facilities, funded in part by the sale of what are often Victorian facilities in city centre locations.”

Please keep an eye on this - we want to see if our own MP’s (Helen Jones and Helen Southworth) sign the motion.  So far they haven’t.  So why don’t we contact them and point it out to them that Warrington would like to see their support added to the list.

Oh, and while you’re at it, why not see if they have a response to our 10,000+ name petition.  They’ve so far made no comment on this, either.  It makes you wonder just what they’re up to and whose interests they’re looking after.  So come on Helens, sign up and show your support.  Residents will be wondering what our MP’s are doing in order to represent us.  So far, that’s not a lot.

Below is a copy of a letter sent to Jack Straw, urging him to come out and state his intentions and timescales, and stressing all party opposition to this in Warrington:

Letter to Jack Straw from WBC - Click to enlarge.

The Rt Hon Jack Straw MP
Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice
102 Petty France
London SW1H 9AJ

Dear Mr Straw

TITAN PRISON / PRISON CLUSTER IN THE WARRINGTON AREA

On 19 December 2008 you wrote in response to a letter regarding the possibility of a Titan Prison / Prison Cluster in the Warrington area. Thank you for this letter which helpfully clarified your position on this matter.

We are aware that in early February your colleague David Hanson announced the decision to site the new Welsh prison near Caernarfon. We have also read a report in the press (Construction News) that Mr Hanson has stated in a written response that construction work on the first prison cluster could start in 2010. In view of these statements we are wondering what the timescale is for an announcement about the timing of the new prison for the north west? We know our local residents would welcome clarification of this.

We would like to repeat the opposition from all three political parties on the Council to siting a new prison cluster on the Omega site or indeed anywhere else in Warrington. Nothing has changed our view since the original motions were passed at our Council Meeting in November. In particular we are most concerned about the negative impact on businesses deciding whether to locate onto the Omega site if a prison were to be located there. We remain committed to the development of Omega as a high quality business location and do not believe a large new prison would be helpful to achieving this ambition.

We look forward to hearing from you.

Yours sincerely
Councillor Ian Marks        Councillor Keith Bland
Leader                             Deputy Leader

Let’s see how Mr Straw replies.

So, I guess it was only a matter of time before the banner got taken down.  First off - well done to whoever put it up.

The removal of the banner looks like a clean, professional job, which leads me to think that either someone has taken it as a trophy, English Partnerships took exception, or Warrington Borough Council removed it.  There are other theories, but let’s not go into those just yet…

Whilst we’re speaking about rumours… Rumour has it that Jack Straw is having sleepless nights due to the amount of noise and attention that we’re making.  So, let’s keep up the pressure.  Write to Jack Straw (see Useful Contacts page - if emails to him bounce, send them again, and again - they will get through), write to him again, and again, and again, write to Helen Southworth and Helen Jones, our MP’s and tell them that Warrington says NO to Titan Prison.

You can email us your replies via the Contact Us link - we’d love to hear from you.

Let’s keep up the pressure.