Bill for new Highland prison rises by £10M plus
The estimated bill to build a new Highland prison has jumped by more than £10 million in less than two years, it has emerged.
And efforts by the Scottish Prison Service to find a site to replace the overcrowded Porterfield facility in Inverness are ongoing, almost five years after plans were first announced.
The Scottish Government has updated its programme of major building projects over the next few years which include a new base for prisoners in the region and would be called HMP Highland.
The government’s £12.8 billion infrastructure investment plan details dozens of capital spending projects but it has now emerged the long-awaited prison would cost about £62.7m to replace the current "old and unfit" Porterfield which opened in 1902.
That is a jump from the £52 million figure which the justice secretary Kenny MacAskill estimated it would cost in September 2011, when he responded to a question tabled in the Scottish Parliament by Highland Labour MSP David Stewart.
At the time Mr Stewart warned the figure would rise the longer the government "dragged its heels" on the project.
A SPS spokeswoman said the cost was a revised estimate which often occurred when large construction projects were in the preparation stage.
"We have plans to acquire a preferred site for the construction of HMP Highland in the next financial year and funding for any future construction and development would be dependent upon the relevant spending review," she said. "The final capital cost will depend on where and when the prison is built."
The SPS was told two years ago it could build a new prison on land earmarked for Inverness’s new educational and research campus where the city’s college and the University of the Highlands and Islands will be built.
But talks broke down with the landowner Highlands and Islands Enterprise about constructing HMP Highland at Beechwood, towards the east of Inverness, after the economic agency said the prison did not have a "strong strategic fit" with its vision.
The SPS had first announced in 2008 it planned to replace Porterfield with a new prison, the year in which it was described as one of the most overcrowded in Scotland. It is currently sited near the city centre in a residential area.
Highland and Islands MSP Mary Scanlon said a new prison was badly needed and could provide a welcome shot in the arm for the region’s construction industry.
