It was Britain's oldest and most overcrowded prison. One director-general of the Prison Service felt compelled to call it "an affront to civilised society".

But there is no escaping the fact that Oxford Prison is heading up-market fast with the release of plans to transform it from a place of penance into a palace of luxury.

The public has been asked to give its own verdict on the ambitious plans to turn the Victorian city prison into a hotel and heritage centre.

And already more than 500 questionnaires have been returned with a big majority backing the hotel idea.

Not only that, most people have come out in favour of the far more costly of the two options, which would involve knocking down County Hall and building a big new city centre shopping area. Oxfordshire county council bought back the prison following its closure in 1996. The council explored a wide range of possible uses from museum to sports hall, film centre to all-night cafe.

The council finally drew up two plans with its consortium partners the Norwegian ship-building firm Kvaerner Construction and estate agents King Sturge.

Both schemes include shops, cafes, council offices, themed restaurants as well as a hotel. Near to where there was a treadmill for exhausted felons there could now be a fitness club and close to where men were executed, guests could soon be sleeping soundly in four-star comfort.

A jail has stood on the site of the old prison for 700 years. In recent times "guests" have included Great Train Robber Roy "the Weasel" James, Black Panther Donald Neilson and the peer the Marquis of Blandford.

But the newly-appointed prison project manager, Maurice McCarthy, is hopeful paying guests will be arriving from 2005.

He said: "It is sometimes difficult to imagine how things might be instead of how they are. Two cells could be turned into a double room by knocking down walls. I am sure there would be a market for a high-class hotel in the centre of Oxford. "

The option so far favoured (Option B) would see:

The New County Hall, only opened in 1976, being pulled down.

Castle Street moved westwards.

A new shopping area and new council offices built next to the Westgate Centre and a big public square created.

Tony Bovey, of the council's property consultants W.S.Atkins, said: "We are delighted with the response and the questionnaires are still coming in. So far only a minority is against creating a hotel here.

"A lot of people said they wanted a secluded area on the site that would be available for the general public. A few made it clear that they did not want the site used for student accommodation."

County council spokesman Nicola Kirkwood said: "We want the public to help decide which one is to be taken forward. Both proposals would be fully-funded by the developer with the intention of reusing the important buildings on the site."

The prison is only part of a 3.3 acre site containing no fewer than 12 listed buildings.

Among the treasures are the Norman St George's Tower with its famous crypt and the building where John Wesley was imprisoned. There is also a burial ground within the prison walls, where those who met their end on the gallows lie in unmarked graves. To many such as Edwin Townsend-Coles of the Oxford Civic Society, the prison is rightfully owned by the public.

But the Master of St Peter's College, John Barron, said his college had come up with a similar scheme. "The harder we looked, the clearer it became that, even on the assumption of £5m of Lottery funding, the scheme was not viable without an unacceptable degree of exploitation of the site."

Commenting on the two options in the questionnaire, he said: "It is hard to take seriously the notion that admission to an expensive hotel and a health club constitutes public access to the heritage.

"The truth is that the real purpose of the schemes is to create profit for the developer and the county council - cash for one and free accommodation for the other."

An exhibition of the development proposals will be on show in the Central Library Westgate until September 5.

Exhibitions will be held at Wallingford Library until August 24; and at the Vale of the White Horse District Council offices from August 25 to 28.

For questionnaires write to Castle Site Development Proposals, Freepost of 2420, Witney, OX8 1 BR.

The closing date for comments is September 7.

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.