MP angry over 'secret' bail hostels

Wrekin MP Mark Pritchard is to meet with Justice Secretary Jack Straw to demand an end to the secret siting of bail hostels in residential areas.

The Tory MP spoke out after the Shropshire Star revealed hostels for prisoners released early or on bail had already been sited in, or are earmarked for, Telford and Shrewsbury, without neighbours' knowledge.

Mr Pritchard said: "It is completely unacceptable that people have not been consulted about the location of these hostels.

"Local residents have been kept completely in the dark and people are obviously anxious about the people who maybe resident in bail hostels."

The Ministry of Justice told the Shropshire Star that hostels for both prisoners on bail and those released early on home detention curfew were either already in, or earmarked for, Telford and Shrewsbury and local residents did not have to be informed of them.

The situation was highlighted by the discovery of a hostel in Crescent Road, Hadley, which had been home to three prisoners for more than six months without neighbours knowing.

The hostel is run by Essex-based company Clear Springs which has around 150 similar properties nationwide.

A spokesman for Telford and Wrekin Council said: "Under government legislation, planning permission and public consultation is not required unless a property houses six or more people."

Mr Pritchard said the situation in Shropshire mirrored a wider national problem.

He added: "It is completely back to front that the rights of law abiding citizens seem to play second fiddle to the rights of people who are known to have committed offences."

By Simon Hardy