Shabana Mahmood suggests ministers will override objections to new prisons

The Ministry of Justice said prisons would be deemed sites of ‘national importance’. Photograph: Andrew Aitchison/Corbis/Getty Images

The justice secretary has indicated that the government will override local objections to the construction of new prisons in England.

Shabana Mahmood accepted reports that the justice department would be able to fast-track applications, giving officials the power to bypass councils who normally decide on planning applications, even if the planned prisons are to be built on green belt land.