HMP Kennet: Decaying prison to make way for hospital park

Mersey Care NHS Foundation Trust said its patients found the sight of the former HMP Kennet "unsettling"

A decaying former prison is to be demolished for the grounds to be transformed into a hospital garden.

Two facilities for mental health care patients have been built on the grounds at Maghull Health Park since the closure of HMP Kennet in 2017.

The £1.5m work was agreed by Mersey Care NHS Foundation Trust.

The trust said it was "delighted" because its patients found the sight of the former jail "unsettling".

Trees, grass and wild flowers will fill the park, which is due to be finished in February 2024.

A spokesman said the setting would "help the therapeutic recovery of mental health and learning disability patients".

The current facilities at Maghull Health Park include the high-security psychiatric Ashworth Hospital and the Rowan View medium secure hospital which opened in 2020

Aspen Wood Hospital, a low-security unit for people with learning disabilities, is due to open later this year.

The land is owned by Mersey Care and the demolition was signed off as part of an agreement to keep Maghull Health Park as a "therapeutic environment".

Spokeswoman Elaine Darbyshire said: "We're delighted this decaying prison building will now be cleared."

Mersey Care said it had pledged to deliver a safe and quiet demolition due to the different patients' sensory needs.

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