HUNDREDS of people packed out Dover’s Town Hall to voice fierce opposition to Connaught Barracks becoming an open prison, despite fears it is already a done deal by the Home Office.

The meeting was convened by an action group, formed in the last week to oppose turning the barracks into a Category D open prison, housing 400 prisoners.

Despite the reassurances of prisons minister, Gerry Sutcliffe on Monday, that nothing was a done deal, by Wednesday news had emerged that the Home Office have already appointed a governor for the new prison.

She is Val Whitecross, who is currently governor at the Immigration and Removal Centre, on Dover’s Western Heights.

MP Gwyn Prosser told the meeting: "The Home Office have shafted me and they have shafted Dover."

After a day spent chasing the Home Office, Mr Prosser finally got a letter from Mr Sutcliffe re-iterating that no decision will be made until he visits the Dover, which he has promised he will do.

District council leader, Paul Watkins, announced that a judicial review will be launched, to challenge the way the Ministry of Defence has handled the release of land to the Home Office. This could delay the process, but it might not be enough if the Home Office continue to press ahead with their plans.

Arguments about how a prison could affect Dover’s tentative regeneration are now seen as the best way of getting it stopped.

Cllr Watkins said: "There are many reasons why this should be stopped - there are five schools nearby, 300 homes at Guston, residents and the Gurkha community living in fear.

"But the most persuasive one by far is that we are just beginning to get the shoots of recovery coming through. This certainly sends a bad message out to people who might be looking to invest in the town."

Russ Miller, who lives in London Road, told the meeting: "My friends had nearly completed on buying a house in Dover. When they found out about the prison they were told their house had lost £70,000. They have now pulled out."

PEOPLE in Dover are being urged to support the campaign against an open prison and can do this in several ways.

A protest march is taking place in the town on Saturday, from 11am, starting in the Market Square and finishing at the Town Hall. Campaigners would like people to bring letters of objection which organisers will collect and pass to Home Secretary, John Reid.

People can also sign a petition, which currently has more than 4,000 signatures on it, outside Marks and Spencer in Biggin Street.

To send letters of complaint, write to Write to Gwyn Prosser at 26 Coombe Valley Road, Dover, CT17 OEP, or e-mail knightj@parliament.uk.