ACTING prison governor David Yeomans had a rough ride when he addressed Erlestoke Parish Council's annual meeting last Thursday night.

Mr Yeomans, who is holding the reins between the departure of former governor Jayne Blake and the appointment of a new chief at the category C unit, was taken to task about the apparently unfettered developments taking place at the prison.

He was asked why the new building always took place on the skyline in an area of natural beauty when no private developer would be able to get away with it.

Criticism was particularly targeted at the recent news that a 40-person accommodation unit is likely to be built at the prison in the near future.

Mr Yeomans said the first he knew of the latest planning application was when he received a phone call last week telling him that a letter was going to Kennet District Council for consultation.

The Prison Service has been asked to make provision for an extra 5,000 prisoners nationwide and asked all its prisons to approach their local authorities to 'test the water' about expanding their accommodation.

Mr Yeomans said: "That's the equivalent of ten small jails but the Government is going forward with creating enough accommodation at existing jails to cope with this number."

Although Kennet District Council was asked to deal with the application as an urgent matter and within two weeks, Mr Yeomans said the new building was not going to be erected in the near future.

He indicated it would go up near the most recent building at the prison, a wood-built Swedish design which has been a source of annoyance to villagers.

One resident at Thursday night's meeting described the prison as 'like Colditz on top of the hill.'

Former parish council chairman Roger Hampton said he was trying to sell his house but potential buyers were put off by the obvious proximity of the prison.

He said: "I can't understand why you insist on building on the skyline when there is room on the site for it not to be visible. It is wrong from any kind of planning guidelines to build there. You could have 500 prisoners on the site where no-one could see them."

Mr Yeomans said the prison authorities would have no objection to the parish council planting trees to obscure the prison fences and buildings as long as they stopped short of the three-metre-wide perimeter path.

This brought a chorus of claims that villagers had been stopped from walking on the perimeter path, even though their presence would be of assistance to the prison authorities, as they would be able to monitor the state of the wire.

Mr Yeomans said: "I would prefer if people didn't use the path. We have to check everyone out and that would waste officers' time."

George Phillips said that most of the villagers who used the path were well known to the prison officers and if the quality of the security cameras was better, they would be able to identify who was on the path.

Mr Yeomans said the prison had been given a grant to introduce a new camera system at the prison.