Yorkshire prison could be extended with new block and dentistry building

Steve Sumitomo-Wyatt from the Ministry of Justice, has submitted the wide-ranging plan for HMP Hatfield off Thorne Road in Hatfield.

The plans will be considered by members of the planning committee on Doncaster Council due to the departure from the emerging Local Plan.

Proposals include a new two-storey 60 bed housing block, an extension to existing car parking area for 34 spaces and a new storage container and refurbishments to the healthcare block for a dentistry area.

HMP Hatfield is a Category D facility which identifies prisoners as ‘low risk’ and can ‘reasonably be trusted’ in open conditions and for whom open conditions are appropriate.

The council received one formal objection to the proposals which raised concerns around noise from the car park, ambulance station and proximity to neighbouring amenity, which they feel ‘will worsen’ with the car park extension.

Other comments included concerns around a loss of green space, ‘poor visual impact on the character of the neighbourhood’ and ‘out of character’ and ‘overbearing on the landscape’.

The government announced in 2019 that 10,000 additional prison places would be provided, with of the 3,500 places through the expansion, reconfiguration and refurbishment of the existing estate.

The new blocks and ancillary accommodation proposed in the application will form part of this expansion with the remaining 6,500 places coming from the four new prisons, council bosses said.

Doncaster council planning officer Hannah Wilson, said: “The use is a departure in the countryside but is a rare use not covered in the Local Plan.

“Thus the impact on the countryside has been carefully assessed and there is felt to be no significant harm to high value landscapes or wider countryside given the development is an expansion of an existing prison within the existing boundary. Therefore recommended for approval.

“The report demonstrates that there are no material planning considerations that would significantly or demonstrably outweigh the social, economic or environmental benefits of the proposal in this location.

“The development would not cause undue significant harm to neighbouring properties, the highway network, flooding, ecology, or the wider character of the area.”