Lack of funding set to halt special school plan

A special school planned for part of Cheshire will not now go ahead amid a setback to council ambitions to set one up in its old headquarters.

Cheshire East Council had proposed to open an infant special school in Middlewich.

But the council said because a proposed special education needs and disabilities (SEND) school in its former headquarters in Sandbach would not receive government funding as first thought, it was seeking to pause the Middlewich plans in a bid to keep alive the Sandbach scheme.

The government said it was investing at least £9.4m to deliver 190 specialist or alternative provision places in Cheshire East, which would help families to "get more support more quickly".

Cheshire East Council had planned to expand an existing special school, Springfield School in Crewe and Wilmslow, into a satellite site in Middlewich.

The building set to be used for that, Cledford House, had been a council office building in recent years but, before that, used to be a school.

Meanwhile, in late 2024, Cheshire East confirmed it was seeking to turn its former headquarters at Westfields in Sandbach into a SEND free school, funded by the Department for Education (DfE).

The authority voted to close the site in 2023 and it has been empty since the end of 2024.

But in a report ahead of a council meeting, the authority said it had been told in November that the Westfields scheme was "highly unlikely" to be progressed by the DfE.

Officials said that because of "affordability and available capital resources", they were looking to pause the Middlewich plan and sell two other sites to move forward with the Westfields plans.

The plans to convert the Sandbach site into a 144-place school for all ages is expected to cost about £16m, through money allocated for the school places for SEND children.

The report said there had been a growth in out of borough placements, which went back to when the former Cheshire County Council was divided into Cheshire East Council and Cheshire West and Chester Council (CWAC).

At the time of the split, most special schools were in what is now CWAC's area and only four of the 19 special schools were transferred to Cheshire East Council.

The report said the "resulting imbalance has never been properly addressed".

The plans will be discussed by the council's children and families committee on Monday.

A spokesperson for the Department for Education said: "For too long, families have been failed by the SEND system – with parents across the country forced to fight for every scrap of support and rising demand meaning children's needs are spiralling to crisis point.

"Parents and children need places now, which is why we are investing at least £9.4m to deliver 190 specialist or alternative provision places in brilliant schools in Cheshire East – so families can get more support more quickly, and every child can achieve and thrive in their local school."

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