Chorley prison: 1,715-place design consultation announced

The Ministry of Justice has unveiled more detailed plans for a 1,715-place Chorley prison in Lancashire, with a new consultation ahead of a reserved matters application.

The 21-page information pack, published on 7th October 2026, sets out the appearance, layout and scale of the proposed Category C resettlement prison beside HMP Garth and HMP Wymott. Online engagement is scheduled to run from 12th October to 1st November.

The project already has outline planning permission following a Secretary of State decision in December 2024. This is the next design stage, not a fresh application to establish whether a prison may be built on the site.

Chorley prison plans move towards reserved matters approval

The Government’s new Lancashire prison consultation describes a scheme comprising 13 buildings inside a secure perimeter, including seven residential houseblocks. The prison would be built on land north of HMP Wymott and east of HMP Garth near Ulnes Walton.

Although the headline capacity is substantial, the new stage has a narrower statutory scope. The proposed reserved matters application will seek approval for appearance, layout and scale. The principle of the prison was settled by the December 2024 outline permission, subject to its conditions.

Chorley Council is expected to determine the reserved matters application after submission. The Ministry of Justice anticipates a decision in early 2027, but that is a project forecast rather than a fixed committee date or guaranteed outcome.

For practitioners, the distinction matters because objections and supporting submissions now need to focus on matters that remain reserved, while still engaging with any relevant outline conditions. The application is not an opportunity to rerun the whole outline merits case.

Seven four-storey houseblocks would hold 1,715 prisoners

The design includes seven houseblocks accommodating approximately 245 prisoners each, giving the stated total of 1,715 places. Each houseblock would be four storeys and roughly 18 metres high, with a pitched roof.

The information pack shows an X-shaped plan in which three wings contain cells and a fourth wing provides support facilities. It also identifies a care and separation unit, healthcare and education facilities, workshops, a kitchen and visitor accommodation.

Other buildings would generally be no higher than 15 metres. The main entrance resource hub would be three storeys, while the residential houseblocks would sit deeper within the prison grounds, away from neighbouring homes where possible.

These are not simply operational details. Building height, mass, materials and positioning will drive the reserved matters assessment of visual effects, relationships with surrounding properties and integration with an established rural landscape.

Buff brickwork, grey roofs and solar panels proposed

The Ministry of Justice proposes buff-coloured facing brickwork for several of the main buildings, combined with grey metal roofs and metal wall panels elsewhere. The houseblocks would have buff-coloured concrete finishes and grey pitched roofs.

Solar panels are proposed on the roofs of the houseblocks and other operational buildings. The pack says external lighting is intended to be directional, limiting unnecessary spill into the surroundings.

The 5.2-metre-high perimeter fence would include grey metal security panels and barbed wire, with steel sheeting across its lower two metres. That security requirement is a significant visual component of the design and will need to be read alongside existing approved parameters.

Minister Catherine McKinnell introduces the consultation and says she is committed to community engagement during this design stage. That is an important statement given the project’s earlier planning dispute and the need for residents to understand which matters can still be influenced.

The earlier outline permission came after a lengthy appeal

The planning history is unusually important. The Ministry of Justice appealed Chorley Council’s refusal of application 21/01028/OUTMAJ for a major new prison and associated development. The inquiry was reopened in 2024, and the Secretary of State granted permission on 3rd December that year.

The original application included outline permission for up to 74,531.71 square metres of gross external area for a Class C2A prison, alongside other associated works. The site also required attention to Green Belt and infrastructure impacts as part of the earlier decision.

Chorley Council maintains an official planning appeal document page for the project, under appeal reference APP/D2320/W/22/3295556. The current Ministry of Justice pack references the same original application.

This history is a reminder that an outline consent can settle the principle of a controversial development while leaving significant design details for a later determination. The reserved matters process is therefore important, even when the biggest policy argument has already been decided.

Access, traffic and construction conditions remain relevant

The Ministry of Justice says the outline decision already secured off-site highway measures, including traffic calming on Ulnes Walton Lane and Moss Lane, bus stop improvements and new pedestrian links around the access junction.

Further measures include a step-free pedestrian crossing, tactile paving and work at the A581/Ulnes Walton Lane junction. The pack also refers to highways works under section 278 and a temporary construction access.

Construction Management Plans are required ahead of relevant phases. These will address site parking, construction hours, deliveries, storage, hoarding, wheel washing, dust, waste and traffic routing. Other conditions require landscape, ecology, biodiversity and construction environmental management information.

That material should not be confused with the appearance, layout and scale reserved matters, although the design submitted for approval must be compatible with the outline consent and its requirements. Some conditions can also remain live after reserved matters approval.

Layout places taller buildings away from nearby homes

According to the consultation pack, the seven houseblocks would sit away from surrounding residential properties, with lower buildings nearer the edges of the site. This is intended to reduce the visual impact of the development and create a more gradual transition to neighbouring land.

The main entrance and visitors’ facilities would be close to the approach route, while a car park would be located in the southern part of the site and accessed from Moss Lane. The applicant says the arrangement would keep much vehicle activity within the secure boundary.

The design also seeks to retain trees where possible and add new screening, including planting towards the north-eastern edge near utility infrastructure.

Those proposals will require assessment against the actual submitted plans. Consultation illustrations are useful, but the detailed drawings and landscape evidence accompanying the reserved matters application will be the authoritative documents for determining precise height, positioning and treatment.

Consultation runs from 12th October to 1st November

The Government published the information pack on 7th October, but the stated period for online submissions runs from 12th October until 1st November 2026. Residents should distinguish the publication date from the engagement period.

An in-person event is scheduled for 21st October, from 3pm to 8pm, at the Wymott Conference Centre opposite HMP Wymott. Comments can also be sent to the Ministry of Justice by post, using the address given in the official pack.

After this engagement, the Ministry intends to prepare a Statement of Community Involvement that records the issues raised and its responses. That document will accompany the future reserved matters application, which Chorley Council will assess.

Once the application is lodged, there will be a separate statutory planning consultation. Planning Geek’s guide to planning application publicity and neighbour consultation explains the broader distinction between promotional engagement and formal representations to the planning authority.

What neighbours and planning professionals should examine

The live questions are the design consequences of the previously permitted principle. Residents may wish to scrutinise the scale and mass of the four-storey buildings, the position of secure fencing, proposed planting and its likely effectiveness, night-time lighting and the interface with access routes.

Where an issue is already fixed by the outline permission, it may still be worth checking the relevant condition or approved parameter plan, but submitting a general objection to the existence of the prison will not engage directly with the reserved matters that Chorley is being asked to determine.

For the developer and its consultants, a clear, consistent suite of drawings will be essential. Discrepancies between roof heights, security boundaries, visualisations and outline conditions can create avoidable uncertainty at validation and assessment.

The official 21-page consultation pack provides the current design proposals and dates. The full technical submission should be checked once it appears on the council’s planning register.

The next decision is about design, not prison need

The Ministry of Justice links the project to its wider programme to deliver 14,000 additional prison places by 2031. It describes the Lancashire development as a Category C resettlement prison, with education, employment and release preparation facilities.

Those policy objectives explain the Government’s reasons for promoting the scheme, but the immediate planning event is more specific. The project has moved from an outline permission granted after appeal into a consultation focused on detailed design and layout.

If the Ministry submits its reserved matters application after November’s engagement period, Chorley Council will examine the technical drawings and representations within that statutory scope. Until then, no reserved matters approval should be assumed.