Titan Prisons Get Go Ahead

The Prisons Minister has launched a consultation on the development of up to three Titan prisons today. The plans were announced last year as part of the recommendation in Lord Carter's review of prisons. The new 'supersize' jails will house 2,500 prisoners. The current building programme aims to bring overall capacity of the prison estate to over 96,000 by 2014. Prisons Minister David Hanson said: "Our priority is to further reduce crime and to protect the public, and we want to make sure that we get this right. We want Titan prisons to bring the resources we have to reduce reoffending together in one place. Our aim is to provide better value for money for the taxpayer and better opportunities to rehabilitate offenders so that they don't offend again." The government's strategy maintains that the most serious offenders should be in prison. Last December £1.2 billion was announced to cover the expenditure of additional prison places. The consultation on Titan prisons will last for three months. The results will be published before the end of the year. It is believed that the sites for the prisons will be London, the West Midlands and the North-West.

Road Conditions Getting Worse, Says Survey

Road surfaces are in a worse state than they were a decade ago, according to a survey by the Automobile Association (AA). The survey of 17,500 motorists also showed that only 2% thought roads conditions had "improved considerably" with 11% saying that surface condition had improved slightly". AA members in Yorkshire and Humberside said that roads had deteriorated most at 68%. In Northern Ireland, motorist said that road conditions had improved, although almost a third felt conditions had worsened considerably. Scottish drivers in the survey reported least improvement. Edmund King, President of the AA commented: "Britain's motorists are paying record levels of taxation and yet receive poor value for money. These findings from the AA/Populus survey come as a stark reminder that, despite some extra government funding for road maintenance at the start of the decade, the cash is nowhere enough for drivers to see real improvement in road condition."

There are an estimated 1 million potholes in Britain's roads and an estimated £1 billion shortfall in road maintenance budgets. According to the AIA Alarm Survey 2008 almost £65 million is paid out annually in compensation claims.

(DS)