ERLESTOKE Prison has denied that the number of inmates is set to soar.

Villagers in both Erlestoke and Great Cheverell were concerned when Kennet District Council was asked by the prison for planning clearance for a two-storey prefab building for a further 40 prisoners at the 326-inmate medium security prison.

The covering letter referred to the special urgency of the plan and asked for the matter to be dealt with within 14 days.

It spoke of an unexpected and unprecedented rise in the prison population since Christmas and said there was a real danger there would be insufficient accommodation at the prison to cope with the increase.

Kennet District Council responded to the apparent urgency of the request and replied that it had no objections.

But officers were surprised, therefore, when the Gazette and Herald told them that Erlestoke Prison has confirmed it was not expecting any sudden increase in its population and has no urgent need to build the proposed accommodation.

Acting governor David Yeomans said: "We are expecting a very minor hike of six inmates, so our population will be going up to 332 in the short term.

"Applying for permission for the new building was part of a national initiative," he said.

"The prison population is going up by about 5,000 and all prisons have been asked to test the water with the local authorities about the possibility of erecting more accommodation.

"We don't know when the new building will go up. We will be recruiting more staff, but at the moment we don't know how many."

A Prison Service spokesman said: "This was a speculative planning application but Erlestoke has not been earmarked for an increase."