Plan to convert former RAF base into mega-prison could be revived

Wethersfield site currently used to house asylum seekers but faces being shut down under Labour pledge

A former RAF base being used to house asylum seekers could become a battleground for Labour’s mega-prison building plans.
RAF Wethersfield, near Braintree in Essex, is currently being used by the Home Office to house about 500 asylum seekers.
However, Sir Keir Starmer pledged during the election campaign to shut down the migrant camp as part of Labour’s overhaul of the asylum system.
This could pave the way for the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) to revive its plans to convert the site into a mega-jail, housing at least 1,700 offenders, as part of efforts to tackle the prison overcrowding crisis.
In a letter to Wethersfield Parish Council sent by the MoJ in March this year, the department confirmed that it retained an “interest” in the former RAF base as part of its “long-term pipeline” for new jails.
Wethersfield is in the constituency of James Cleverly, the shadow home secretary, who is opposed to any prison plan on the site.
The MoJ said: “We are cognisant that the Home Office plan to use parts of the Wethersfield site for the foreseeable future and we do not anticipate progressing a prison scheme whilst they have a presence on the site. 
“However, we will continue to maintain an interest in Wethersfield as part of our long-term pipeline strategy.”
The MoJ and Home Office said “no decisions” had been taken. 
But Shabana Mahmood, the Justice Secretary, has pledged to fast-track prison building by streamlining the planning system to cope with an anticipated sharp rise in the jail population.
She has already been forced to introduce an early release scheme from September when more than 5,000 prisoners will be freed 40 per cent of the way through their sentences rather than halfway.
However, this will only buy the department 18 months before the jails are projected to be full again, with the prison population forecast by the MoJ to rise from some 87,000 now to 105,800 by March 2028.
The MoJ has already carried out detailed pre-planning application preparatory work at Wethersfield, describing it in its local consultation as an “appropriate” location for as many as two jails holding 3,430 prisoners.
In the public consultation document, it said each prison at the base would contain seven four-storey-high house blocks, with industrial workshops, sports pitches, a gymnasium, kennels for guard dogs and parking space for 1,000 cars on the site.
Wethersfield is currently one of three major asylum accommodation sites which include RAF Scampton in Lincolnshire and the Bibby Stockholm barge in Portland, Dorset. 
On Tuesday, Labour announced it would scrap the use of the Bibby Stockholm vessel as an asylum centre in January.
Asked about the use of Wethersfield as an asylum camp during the election, Sir Keir said: “I do think it needs to close. Obviously, that’ll take time, because the problem that we’ve got at the moment is we’ve got tens of thousands of asylum seekers whose claims are not being processed. That is unsustainable.”
This week Yvette Cooper, the Home Secretary, announced plans to start clearing the 120,000-strong backlog of asylum cases by introducing legislation scrapping the requirement in Rishi Sunak’s illegal migration Act to remove migrants to Rwanda.
Any attempt to build a prison on Wethersfield will, however, face fierce opposition from local MPs, including Mr Cleverly, and residents who have set up campaign groups to oppose both the asylum camp and jail scheme.
Alan MacKenzie, chairman of the Fields Association campaign group against the developments, said it would be “stupid” to put a prison in Wethersfield because of its rural location nine miles from the nearest A road and with no local infrastructure to support it.
He said it would be “nigh on impossible” to find local employees to staff the jail given the high employment rates and better-paid jobs locally.
The campaigners hope that the sentencing review pledged by Labour will lead to more community punishments, reducing the need for prisons.
Six mega-prisons are planned by the MoJ on identified sites, with two already open, but this will still leave capacity thousands of places short of demand.
A Government spokesman said: “Prisons are in crisis and the new Lord Chancellor has taken immediate [action] to ensure we can lock up dangerous offenders, protect the public and make prisons safer for our hard-working staff.
“We will publish a 10-year capacity strategy to outline how prisons can be built quicker later this year and no decisions have been made on future plans for Wethersfield.”