MSP holds ‘frank’ meeting with prison officials over neighbours' noise complaints

An MSP has had a “frank” meeting with officials at HMP Stirling over continued complaints over noise and anti-social behaviour from neighbours to the facility.

The prison has faced problems since opening last year, with locals complaining of “incessant” noise from prisoners and some youngsters living nearby forced to wear noise-cancelling headphones in order to try and sleep.

The disturbance has also previously led residents to consider legal action against the Scottish Prison Service.

The meeting saw Clackmannanshire and Dunblane MSP Keith Brown grilling Linda Pollock, deputy chief executive of the Scottish Prison Service; divisional head of operations Ian Whitehead; and governor in charge Paula Arnold.

Mr Brown highlighted emails he has received from constituents near the Cornton prison site over the continued noise and pressed the SPS representatives on the work being taken to mitigate the ongoing issues.

Following the latest meeting, Mr Brown said: “Following further representations received from constituents, I had a frank exchange of views with SPS over the detail of issues residents have raised with me.

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“I have encouraged SPS to take all measures possible to ensure their neighbours do not have to continue to experience anti-social behaviour from those within HMP YOI Stirling and to move forward with a variety of proposals.

“I will continue to engage with constituents and monitor the situation, and will continue to press SPS for appropriate action”

An SPS spokesperson said: “We fully understand the disruption noise from HMP and YOI Stirling can cause.

“We remain committed to being a good neighbour to everyone in the community.

“We have and will continue to engage with both local residents and elected members as we progress a number of short-term and long-term measures in terms of how we manage the establishment and the wider estate. These are detailed on our website, which we continue to update as further actions are taken.

“Our staff continue to work hard to support those in our care, to manage and intervene in moments of upset and distress, and so reduce the impact on those living in the surrounding area.”