A BID for money to provide accommodation for teenage mothers in Darlington is to be made by the council.

Darlington Borough Council intends to make a bid to the Housing Corporation as part of its general strategy to support teenage mothers.

A social exclusion report on teenage pregnancy sets the objective that by 2003, all lone parents under-18 who cannot live with a family or partner should be placed in supervised semi-independent housing with support.

Until the end of June, Darlington ran a project with Disc, a voluntary agency offering support to young people to live independently.

A house in Haughton Road, with a live-in support worker, was used to help prepare two pregnant teenagers/teenage mothers with children, to prepare for independent living.

But there was limited take-up of the accommodation becuse of a reluctance to share facilities.

The Housing Corporation has indicated that schemes which accommodate teenage mothers who have different levels of support would be welcome.

A bid for cash would take account of a recent survey which highlighted the different levels of need among young mothers.

While 100 per cent wanted their own accommodation with floating support, 81 per cent said they would accept self-contained accommodation with support in the same building.