A NEW accommodation block looks set to be built at a young offenders' institution in Teesdale to cope with the nationally escalating prison population, the D&S Times can reveal.

Ken Hughes, head of planning at Teesdale District Council, confirmed yesterday that he had received notification from HM Prison Service for a proposal to construct a two-storey 40-bed living unit and attached ancillary building between the chapel and kitchen block at Deerbolt in Barnard Castle.

Mr Hughes explained that the notification from the prison service invoked a special urgency case whereby any comments the council had to make must be returned within 14 days.

"I have written to local members and to Startforth Parish Council stressing this," said Mr Hughes. "I will seek to incorporate comments returned to me by next Tuesday in my response to the prison service."

The reason given by the prison service to Mr Hughes for invoking the notification is that "there has been an unexpected and unprecedented rise in the prison population since Christmas and there is now a real danger that there will be insufficient accommodation to cope with this increase."

Deerbolt Press office yesterday confirmed that the prison was on a list of between 20-30 possible sites for new building.

"We have made applications to various local authorities across the country to tackle the large rise in the prison population," said a spokeswoman. "It looks likely we will need to build something."

Deerbolt, which houses 482 young men aged 18-20, was recently praised by an inspection team, headed by the chief inspector of prisons, Anne Owers, for its handling of the electronic tagging system that allows prisoners to be released early, subject to curfews.