Councils Vie For South Coast's Jail

Illawarra Mercury

Thursday October 20, 2005

By MEGAN LEVY

A NEW maximum security prison will be built on the South Coast by 2010 to tackle the state's ballooning inmate population.

NSW Premier Morris Iemma visited Nowra yesterday to unveil plans for the $13 million facility, although a specific prison location is yet to be decided.

Mr Iemma invited the region's five councils - Wollongong, Shellharbour, Kiama, Shoalhaven and Wingecarribee - to bid for the facility, which will accommodate 500 prisoners.

The main contenders are expected to be Wollongong and Shoalhaven councils, which have already said they would bid for the prison.

The prison is expected to create up to 200 permanent new jobs and more than 350 jobs during construction.

Mr Iemma said it would inject more than $10 million into the regional economy each year.

More than 17 councils have been vying for the project since it was announced in the May Budget.

However Mr Iemma said the South Coast's proximity to Sydney and public transport services, and the region's expected prison population in the future, had secured the deal.

"It is designed to meet the future needs of an expanding prison population, but also taking the opportunity to locate these facilities in regions that are growing rapidly," he said.

This week Wollongong City Council indicated it would investigate an industrial site at Kembla Grange as a possible site, while Shoalhaven City Council is investigating several sites.

Shellharbour City Council general manager Brian Weir said yesterday he did not believe there was an appropriate site for such a large facility in Shellharbour.

Kiama Mayor Sandra McCarthy believed it would best be located near a larger commercial centre like Wollongong or Nowra.

The prison, to house high, medium and minimum-security male inmates and up to 70 female prisoners, would be based on a similar centre under construction at Wellington, in the state's central west.

Mr Iemma said the Government estimates that by 2025, there would be about 500,000 people living in the Illawarra and Shoalhaven, of which 750 could be incarcerated.

"We need to get the best advice as to which parts of the greater South Coast region that potential inmate population will come from so that we can ... locate it as close as possible to that local community and obviously to their families and friends," Mr Iemma said.

He said there was presently no prison on the South Coast, which was also a factor in its selection.

Kiama MP Matt Brown called for the prison to be located in the Shoalhaven.

Mr Iemma said the prison's location would be announced next year.

Construction would begin in 2007 and be completed by 2010.

EDITORIAL Make crime pay for region:

Page 20AN 81ha site is needed for the South Coast's proposed $130 million jail, the Department of Corrective Services revealed yesterday.

Department executive director of finance and asset management Gerry Schipp said any site smaller than that was not suitable for the jail because land was needed for buffer zones, visual screening and inmate activities.

The revelations have failed to dampen Wollongong City Council's enthusiasm for a 40ha site at Kembla Grange.

"We are running with what the minister was saying at the time of the jail announcement, which was a minimum 40ha site," the council's economic development manager Bob Doyle said.

"It's at the lower end of the scale as far as the area that's required but there is potential for neighbouring land which may be joined to make a larger site."

Shoalhaven City Council economic development manager Greg Pullen declined to comment on the location of sites being considered but said it was most likely the site would be in or close to Nowra.

"I would be surprised if we can't put up at least three good sites," Mr Pullen said.

He also believed about 40ha was a large enough site.

"You can squeeze it back to 40ha if you meet the other criteria," he said.

Mr Schipp said the jail building would be two storeys and cover about 10ha. He said the exact requirements of a potential jail site would be detailed at a briefing session during the next couple of weeks.

"We will be contacting the five councils involved - Wollongong, Shellharbour, Shoalhaven, Kiama and Wingecarribee - over the next 24 hours and letting them know the details of a briefing session," Mr Schipp said.

"Essentially that session will provide information on what the jail does, what it will look like, the staffing, the infrastructure requirements. Then we will be asking the interested shires to submit a willingness and capabilities statement early in the new year."

In yesterday's Mercury the cost of the jail was inadvertently put at $13 million. The jail will cost $130 million to build. The Mercury apologises for the error.

© 2005 Illawarra Mercury

Back to News Index | Back to Home