CAMPAIGNERS against a proposed probation office in Oxford plan to confront Jack Straw face-to-face tomorrow evening.

Up to 60 people will protest as the Secretary for State for Justice visits Magdalen College for a talk to members of the Oxford University Labour Club at 8pm.

The campaigners said the demonstration would show the depth of opposition to the proposal to lease offices for a new probation centre at Trajan House, in Mill Street, off Botley Road.

Several protesters have already written to the Ministry of Justice to request a meeting with Mr Straw about the proposal to lease the offices yards from their home, but have received no reply.

They said they were concerned that up to 350 criminals — including sex offenders and people convicted of domestic violence — would visit the centre each week.

Mother-of-two Amanda Whiting, 42, of Mill Street, said: “They shouldn’t put it in any residential area.

“There is a possibility of increased crime, and even if there isn’t increased crime, there’s the fear of increased crime.

“We’re hoping Jack Straw will come and see the kind of area it is – a quiet residential street.”

Thames Valley Probation Service is negotiating a lease for part of Trajan House under plans to centralise its services. The centre could begin operating with 100 staff from April next year.

Probation service managers say there is no indication crime would increase in the area.

Families living nearby have complained of a lack of consultation on the scheme.

The probation service says it is not required to consult, as the plans are not a change of use of the building.

Father-of-two Dan Rawstorne, of Mill Street, said: “I’m encouraging people to peacefully turn out and protest.When he meets us and sees the area we live in, he will realise it’s not appropriate to site a large probation centre in Mill Street.”

Yesterday, Banbury MP Tony Baldry and Oxford West and Abingdon MP Dr Evan Harris raised their concerns about the plan in the House of Commons.

Justice Minister David Hanson said his email account was full of messages about the plan from Dr Harris’s constituents.

He added that he would be willing to meet a small delegation to his office over the issue.

In December 2007, after Mr Straw was confronted by families who would have been affected by the relocation of a Birmingham probation centre, he admitted “we got it wrong”.