Officials hold talks on future of Shrewsbury's empty Dana prison

Officials from the Ministry of Justice and Shropshire Council are now working to develop a formal plan for what can be done with the site.

The Dana was shut in March as part of a Government drive to scrap ageing prisons and save £63 million per year, with the ideas for its future use including the possibility of turning it into a hotel.

A spokesman for Shropshire Council said work on deciding on the future of the building is continuing to progress. He said a tour of the prison had taken place as part of the decision-making process.

"The council and MoJ are now jointly working on a planning brief that considers the future use of the site," he added.

No one from the Ministry of Justice was available for comment today.

More than 200 jobs were lost in Shrewsbury as a result of the prison closure.

Many staff opted to take voluntary retirement instead of moving to work in other prisons in the region.

The hotel plan was put forward by Shropshire Council following the shock closure announcement made by the Ministry of Justice in January.

But one issue that will have to be dealt with before any potential regeneration takes place is the removal of the remains of executed prisoners.

Councillor Mike Owen said in a public meeting in February that it was believed there may be 17 bodies still buried at the site.

More than £500,000 was spent on exhuming bodies from Oxford Prison when that site was turned into a luxury hotel in 2005.

The work had initially been earmarked to cost £250,000 but a greater number of bodies than expected were discovered.

A total of 76 bodies were discovered at the Oxford site.

Last month, a report by the prison's Independent Monitoring Board said the decision to close the prison appeared to be 'hurried' and 'poorly planned' – with people even arriving for job interviews on the morning the announcement was made.