Proposed prison names inflammatory, councillor says

The Ministry of Justice (MoJ) is asking the community for feedback on the names

Proposed names for a new Leicestershire prison will "inflame" residents, according to a councillor.

The Ministry of Justice (MoJ) has suggested three names for a new prison set to be built next to HMP Gartree in Market Harborough - HMP Harcourt, HMP Devana and HMP Welland Oaks.

All three names relate to the history or environment of the local area.

But David Page, county councillor for the ward where the prison will be built, said residents were so unhappy the 1,700-capacity prison was being built, that choosing a name with a local link would only cause more anger.

A planning application for the new prison attracted objections from residents, and permission was initially refused unanimously by Harborough District Council in 2022, against planning officers' advice.

However, the council's decision was then overturned in 2023 by the then Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, Michael Gove, who ignored the advice of the government's own planning inspector and granted permission for the facility to be built.

The MoJ has since asked the public to suggest names for the new prison.

Page, who represents the Market Harborough West and Foxton division, said the initial consultation generated 85 responses with suggestions for names, which were "mostly unusable".

'Completely opposed'

He said: "It shows the level of contempt that most of the public have treated it [the prison] with.

"They have tried to get the public to take ownership of it and it has failed.

"I told them [the MoJ] explicitly that they should not be using names associated with the locality because they will simply inflame the residents living around here."

After the first round of public consultation, six potential names for the prison were presented to a committee of local politicians, which Page said "struggled to back any of them".

Three names have now been shortlisted by the MoJ for another round of public consultation.

HMP Harcourt relates to the "tithing men" who would visit the Gartree Hundred area and were responsible for maintaining law and order within the community, while HMP Devana is a reference to the Roman road that ran through the Gartree area.

HMP Welland Oaks relates to the River Welland, which runs close to the new prison, and the historic Gartree oak tree.

Phil King, county councillor for the Gartree division, said he was "completely opposed" to the three names.

"To try and attach names like Harcourt, Devana or Welland Oaks to a prison is deeply insensitive," he said.

"To now see that name linked forever with a high-security prison is simply unacceptable.

"Equally, the River Welland and the historic Gartree oak tree are positive symbols of our natural environment - not something that should be tarnished by prison branding."