In a written parliamentary question, Richard Burgon (the Shadow Lord Chancellor & Shadow Secretary of State for Justice) asked David Lidington (the Secretary of State for Justice);

“what discussions he has had with the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government on the successful tender for the purchase of the land at the at the site of former HM Prison Holloway for using that land to build (a) genuinely affordable housing and (b) social housing.”

In his reply on 1st December 2017, Phillip Lee (the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Justice) failed to offer a response on affordable housing and social housing. He did however say;

“My officials are in regular contact with the Department for Communities and Local Government about the progress of the public sector land programme. The bids for the former Holloway prison and young offender institution have been received and we will be evaluating them. They are commercially sensitive and no decision has been made on the successful tenderer.”

We found this response a little bit confusing as in May 2017, the Lead Estate Manager at the Ministry of Justice, Martin Coates informed us via email that;

“I am not personally aware of any involvement by DCLG (with MoJ) in planning issues or the future disposal of this site.

Our typical DCLG route is via the Homes and Communities Agency, but their remit does not extend to Greater London.”