Prison plan is waiting in the wings (From Bury Times)

Prison plan is waiting in the wings

8:34am Friday 16th November 2007

• Print
• Email
• Share

A PRISON could be built in Radcliffe if plans for 300 homes on the site of a former sweet factory are rejected, say developers.

The Property Alliance Group wants to use the 27-acre site off Dumers Lane to build houses, industrial units and a new park.

But Bury Council planning officers are recommending the plans be refused because the land is designated for industrial use.

The developers say they are now discussing the possibility of building a prison on the site as a back-up plan.

The news comes as the Government tries to deal with overcrowding in UK prisons and attempts to create 8,000 extra places.

Lee Charnley, head of industrial development at the Property Alliance Group, said: "We have been working with Bury Council on the plan for new homes for about two years and hope that it will be approved.

"We have had to look at other options and have been talking with the Department of Justice to see if it will be suitable to build a prison.

"The site needs something doing with it because it has been used as a drugs den and attracts vandals."

If the homes and office plan goes ahead, it would create 250 jobs. The Property Alliance Group would then plough some of the cash it makes from the site into building an office block on 90,000 sq ft of land it owns in Carlisle Street, Radcliffe. That project would create 500 jobs, it said.

The council's planning committee will consider the application on Tuesday.

• Print
• Email
• Share