PROJECT: Prison to be built away from homes

THE company behind Peterborough's new prison has given residents a boost by revealing the development will be built further from their homes than originally planned.

The project has caused controversy because people living near the site in Westfield Road, Westwood, feared the prison would be on their doorsteps.

But bosses at United Kingdom Detention Services (UKDS), which will run the category B prison, today said the visual impact of the building on the local community had been "very much reduced".

As reported in The Evening Telegraph, work on the jail - which will house 840 prisoners - is set to start in the next few weeks

A statement from UKDS said: "UKDS has produced a very efficient design for the prison, using much less land than indicated in the outline planning consent.

"This significantly increases the distance between residential streets and the prison boundary, and has allowed a more generous and attractive landscaped area, incorporating facilities for local residents.

"This compact design is particularly beneficial, because the visual impact of the prison from Westfield Road and nearby housing is now very much reduced."

UKDS plans to demolish the derelict former Baker Perkins building at the site and replace it with parkland.

Mary-Ann Barnard, chairwoman of the West Town Residents' Association, said the prison service and UKDS had co-operated fully with concerned residents.

She said: "I am pleased that finally the project is going ahead. If they have to put the prison there, then they have gone for what we wanted."

UKDS says the prison will create 350 jobs, with the "majority" going to local people.

However, this is 100 less than company chiefs quoted while still seeking planning permission from Peterborough City Council last year.

The prison, which will cost 68 million under the Private Finance Initiative, is expected to take its first inmates by 2005.

Sir Brian Mawhinney, MP for Cambridgeshire North-West, has criticised the location of the new prison, saying it should be built on the outskirts of the city.

Company built detention centre

UNITED Kingdom Detention Services, which will run the prison, is owned by multinational company Sodexho Alliance.

Sodexho provides catering and support services in more than 3,800 locations in the UK, in the business, industry, education, healthcare and defence sectors.

It is the world's largest food and management services company, working in 74 countries worldwide.

The company building the prison - Interserve Project Services - also built Harmondsworth Detention Centre, near Heathrow, in 2001, as part of an Immigration Service project to accommodate 550 people.