Residents on the Plas Madoc estate have staged protests

Martyn Jones, the Clwyd South MP, said he would be raising the concerns of families that sex offenders were staying there on the release from jail.

It follows protests by parents on the nearby Plas Madoc estate.

The probation service said no-one deemed to be a danger to the public was allowed to stay at the hostel.

Mr Jones and local AM Karen Sinclair are meeting probation service officials and senior police officers over the Plas y Wern hostel on Friday.

He said residents were right to be concerned after learning that a number of convicted paedophiles had stayed at the hostel after being released from jail.

We would also like to reassure the public that the hostel is not being developed into a specialist facility for any particular type of offender Matthew Driver, North Wales Probation Service

"I have no issue with people facing charges being sent to the hostel on remand when the courts have decided that they're not a risk," Mr Jones said.

"But I don't think it should become a permanent centre for paedophiles who've been convicted and then served their sentences.

"I don't believe we should be dumped on like that. This hostel is next to a huge estate where there are a lot of children, and the parents have real concerns."

The MP said he was given firm assurances in 1991 that the hostel would not be housing sex offenders.

Last month three women were arrested when they padlocked themselves to a chain across the road during a demonstration outside the hostel.

Rigorous assessment procedures

In response to residents' protests, the probation service has denied that there are plans to make Plas y Wern a specialist unit for any category of offender.

Matthew Driver, Assistant Chief Officer of the North Wales Probation Area, said he believed the service's record had been "extremely good" and it reflected the "rigorous assessment procedures applied to residents coming to the hostel and the hostel regime itself".

"All residents regardless are carefully assessed before admission to the hostel is approved. If it is felt that they pose an unacceptable risk, they are not allowed to stay there."

"We would also like to reassure the public that the hostel is not being developed into a specialist facility for any particular type of offender."