A DECISION on whether Dover’s Connaught Barracks becomes an open prison will be made in the next few days, the prisons minister has confirmed.

Gerry Sutcliffe visited the town yesterday to see the site, the strength of opposition against the prison and meet representatives of an action group, formed to oppose the move.

During a tour of Connaught Barracks, protesters blocked his car from leaving, desperate to get their message across that Dover will suffer if the prison goes ahead.

Campaigners presented him with a 12,000 signature petition and also had half an hour to put forward their views.

But Mr Sutcliffe said while he could see the strength of feeling, he said he also had a duty to try and do something about the spiralling prison population.

He said: "No-one wants a prison in their community, but I hope I have been able to allay people’s fears about what an open prison will mean.

"One of the reasons for looking at Connaught is that the prison population has increased by 47 per cent and we announced in July an extra 8,000 places, but that isn’t enough to meet the rise in the population.

"So, I was commissioned to look at all possibilities, which we are doing. It is a crisis - we have the highest prison population on record."

He re-iterated that no sex offenders would be housed at the site and also confirmed the Home Office had drawn up a list, of places all over Britain, including disused barracks and mental hospitals, which could be deployed to ease the prison overcrowding.

"I will be taking back what I have seen and heard today and a decision will be made, within the next few days."

He rejected the issue that the regeneration of Dover would be affected by a prison, saying that the prison would be a temporary measure, for a few years, and would not impact on the long-term regeneration of Dover.

The Home Office has also received criticism about the way they have handled the issue, but Mr Sutcliffe confirmed if he could turn the clock back, he would not do things differently.

"It is not a done-deal, as people are suggesting. We were due to inform Dover District Council on September 20, but the news was leaked on the 14th."

Council leader, Paul Watkins, added: "We will have to wait and see what the decision is. But the council is now looking to work with our regeneration partners, such as SEEDA, to see if there is any way we can buy the lease to the barracks to try and stop this, and anything like it happening in the future."