BUCKLEY Hall Prison could soon be housing more inmates.

A planning application has been submitted to Rochdale Council to build a two-storey accommodation block to house a further 60 lawbreakers.

The Prison Office also wants to erect a single-storey education block, which will include three classrooms.

Also in the plans, which will go before the Township planning committee within the next few weeks, will be a multi-faith building, a workshop, two new exercise areas and an extension to the car park for 30 more vehicles.

It is anticipated the extension, if given the go-ahead, will create 35 new jobs.

The original Buckley Hall, once an orphanage and then a youth detention centre, was closed in 1989. The building was then demolished in 1993 to make way for a 300-inmate category C prison, which opened the following year.

In 2002 it was changed to a women’s prison, but four years later it reverted to men only because of the growing male prison population.

The current application has been submitted under the Home secretary’s plan to increase the number of additional prison places in the country to 8,000 by 2012.

Residents have raised concerns that the work could take up to 12 months to complete, disturbing local wildlife and destroying their habitats.

There is also the possibility of a temporary road having to be built to provide access for heavy duty vehicles that will take construction materials to the prison.

Alison Howson from Buckley Terrace said: "The low-loaders delivering the pre-fab buildings cannot access the prison through the gates, but it is proposed that an alteration to the existing access will be made.

"Also a new temporary road is to be made at the rear of Buckley Terrace, which involves the removal of an existing wooden fence and using some of the land belonging to the terrace.

"This, in turn, will involve taking down established trees at the rear of the properties, which will also spoil our outlook

"None of this is on the submitted plans."

The prison service said it would not comment until a decision has been made on the submitted planning application.