Vic youth prison site faces local backlash

Residents in Melbourne's west are furious over the government's plan to build a youth prison in Werribee, which they say was sprung on them.

Melbourne's west is set to be the new home of youth offenders and locals are furious.

A new 224-bed maximum security youth prison has been earmarked to be built in Werribee, but The Wyndham City Council says it wasn't consulted about the plans.

On Monday the council formally voted to oppose the construction at a council meeting.

"It's just not fit for purpose in that location," Mayor Henry Barlow told 3AW on Wednesday.

"For a start - maybe we wouldn't have had to be fighting it if we had the option of sitting down and discussing the location."

The council's report on Tuesday said the community is deeply concerned about the impact the facility will have on the image of the desirability of the area.

Many have been perplexed as to why the state government has not decided to build the new centre next to existing sites at Malmsbury, Barwon and Parkville.

Liberal member for Melbourne's west Bernie Finn felt the public's anger first hand after conducting a telephone survey of 4113 Werribee residents on Tuesday night.

He found 90 per cent objected to the prison.

"I've been inundated with violent objection - some people have literally been threatening violence and I've had to calm a few down," Mr Finn told AAP on Wednesday.

Residents say their local member, Treasurer Tim Pallas, hasn't been listening to the concerns of his electorate.

Mr Pallas told AAP on Wednesday the government would ensure the prison incorporates community feedback and there will be "opportunities for new transport and community infrastructure".

Youth Minister Jenny Mikakos has agreed to sit down with Mayor Barlow and the council's chief executive Kelly Grigsby on Friday.

The government has also had to front the Supreme Court on Wednesday over youth detention, with a human rights group challenging to the government's use of an adult jail to detain children.

Riots in Malmsbury and Parkville prisons prompted the state government to move some young offenders to a unit of Barwon prison, gazetting it as a youth justice centre.

The Human Rights Law Centre claims some are being kept in 23-hour lockdown and denied education because the facility isn't fit for teaching.

There will be a community meeting at the Encore Community Centre in Hoppers Crossing on February 13 at 7.30pm.


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Source: AAP



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