Council: Parkhurst Prison Estate Purchase Could 'Unlock' Camp Hill Site

Wednesday, 3 March 2021 17:00

By Oliver Dyer @olidyer

"Deteriorating" roads around the Parkhurst prison estate could be repaired if the Isle of Wight Council agrees to take over part of the land from the Ministry of Justice (MoJ).

As part of a national review, the MoJ is offering the council a one-off, fixed payment to bring areas of its prison estate up to an acceptable safe standard.

The council has made no secret of its regeneration plans for the wider Parkhurst estate, including developing the former Camp Hill Prison site.

Most recently, the local authority has gained funding for St Mary’s Roundabout works - and other Newport junctions - in the hope of eventually "unlocking" the site.

While that land is not part of the MoJ's offer, the local authority says it views it as "another step" to enabling future negotiations.

A report, due before the Isle of Wight Council's Cabinet next Thursday (11), recommends accepting the MoJ's proposal.

It reads:

"The council has over many years pro-actively sought to bring forward improvements and partial housing development of the wider Parkhurst estate.

"These council-led efforts have been stalled on several occasions by a lack of available infrastructure investment by government agencies at the scale required to unlock the larger site for development.

"These would have addressed the very poor condition of the estate’s infrastructure through a programme of development which would have included the road carriageways, pavements, grass verges and associated amenity areas as part of a wider place making agenda."

The report says the last substantial funding bids were made in 2015 and 2018 respectively.

At the time, the council - supported by the Homes and Communities Agency, the Isle of Wight Trust and the Ministry of Justice - proposed a new ‘garden village’ on the Camp Hill site.

If the council agrees to the MoJ's plans, it would see it take on the current liabilities and future maintenance for the transferred areas, but not for third-party owned land.

An Isle of Wight Council spokesperson said:

“The report to be considered by the Cabinet on 11 March seeks approval to accept the potential transfer of ownership of highways, footways and open spaces outside of the operational prisons that are owned by and deemed no longer required by the Ministry of Justice.

“The highways and footways are in a poor state of repair and local residents have been concerned to see improvements made for some considerable time. The council, as highways authority, is better placed to oversee the repairs and future maintenance and as part of the transaction the Ministry of Justice will make a financial contribution towards the costs.

“As part of its regeneration programme, the council will work closely with the local member and local residents to prioritise the works to be undertaken and achieve the best possible outcome using the funds available to improve community cohesion and quality of life.”

The council papers do not disclose which roads would be upgraded.

The Isle of Wight Council has until March 31 to agree to the terms.

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Council: Parkhurst Prison Estate Purchase Could 'Unlock' Camp Hill Site

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