CAMP Hill prison has been offered for sale to the Isle of Wight Council for £1, but the government is still struggling to sell it.

The prisons minister Rory Stewart said he was keen to sell the former prison site to the council for new housing during a Justice Select Committee hearing.

The BBC reported that Mr Stewart told the committee: "I'd be happy to pay [the authority] a pound to have it."

A spokesperson for the Isle of Wight Council said: “The council is undertaking the necessary due diligence on the former Camp Hill prison site, which will assess any risks and liabilities, prior to considering any arrangements for bringing it forward as a regeneration opportunity.”

The prison once held more than 500 inmates before it was closed in 2013.

A question mark has hung over the site for some time with the possibility of regenerating it.

A draft regeneration strategy, released by the council in July, described the site as ‘suitable for residential/commercial/community/social infrastructure space'.