THE mayor of Holyhead backed Anglesey Council’s bid to bring a 1,500 capacity prison to the Island, creating around 1,000 jobs.
Land at the Anglesey Aluminium plant in Holyhead and the old BP site at Rhosgoch were submitted by the council to the Ministry of Justice
Councillor John Chorlton said that a prison would boost the island’s troubled economy.
“This would bring many jobs to an area that has suffered from unemployment for many a year,” he said.
“I hope that the Ministry of Justice consider that the Island has been hit hard by decommissioning at Wylfa and the closure of Anglesey Aluminium and that we need quality jobs to keep young people on Anglesey.
A shortlist of six sites has been submitted by leaders of the six north Wales councils earlier this month, with the full backing of the North Wales Criminal Justice Board chairman Ed Beltrami (pictured).
"The North Wales Criminal Justice Board has been campaigning for a North Wales prison for nearly three years and we are determined to continue,” he said.
“Currently offenders from North Wales are scattered around 25 different prisons in the UK, as far away as Durham and Kent. Economically, too, this would have been a massive boost a time when the region in the grip of the credit crunch.”
Council leader Clive McGregor said that Anglesey would make an ideal location for the prison due to skill workers and convenient transport links.
“We have put Anglesey forward because it offers good staff who need work,” he said. “The locations would be convenient in terms of transport, with the railway and the A55 and of course Caernarfon Crown Court is nearby.”
A Prison Service spokesperson said shortlist of suitable sites will be published later in the year after suitability assessments have been carried out.
He added: “The Government is committed to providing more prison places to ensure that the most dangerous, serious and persistent offenders are locked up, and plan to provide 96,000 places by 2014. This includes plans for new 1,500 place prisons.”