Government still not made decision on school plans for Westfields building in Sandbach
Plans for improving special needs provision for children are in limbo because the government has not made a decision on Cheshire East's proposal to convert its former HQ into a school, a councillor said.
Officers on Monday (June 9th) briefed the children and families committee on the council's proposed SEND (special educational needs and disability) and AP (Alternative Provision) 'One Plan'.
The plan, which was welcomed by all councillors, aims to support the achievement of best outcomes for children and young people with SEND and stresses the importance of right support in the right place at the right time.
But Cllr Jos Saunders (Poynton, Con) asked: "How can we have this strategy if the council doesn't know yet if it's going to get the go ahead from government for its AP and SEND school provision?"
Cheshire East closed its Westfields HQ at Sandbach in November last year to save money and announced it wanted to convert it into a school for children with special educational needs and disabilities.
This would benefit local children who would no longer have to travel hours to be educated outside the borough.
It would also help Cheshire East's coffers as it would no longer have to fund places at independent schools outside the borough and pay huge transport costs.
But despite chief executive Rob Polkinghorne writing to the government stressing the urgency of the situation for the cash-strapped council, there has been no movement from the government.
Cllr Saunders said: "All of us received copies of the letter that was sent by our chief executive to [education secretary] Bridget Phillipson, which outlined the lack of progress in agreeing free schools, and that was sent out in February.
"We also noted the fact that it's costing about £300,000 to keep Westfields in a good condition, which again, is having a negative impact on the budget.
"At the moment, the answer we've got from government is that they're not in a position to provide an update."
She asked committee chair Laura Crane (Sandbach, Lab) if she could stress the urgency to all Cheshire East's MPs.
"We've waited six months since that letter virtually, we can't wait months and months.
"We're all on the same hymn sheet in this room for children and families.
"Let's take the politics out of it. We just want some certainty on this," she said.
Cllr Crane said she meets regularly with the MPs and 'they are completely on board with the need'.
"They are doing everything in their power to lobby for a speedy resolution on that.
"We need it. We desperately need it. They know that," she said.
"We know there's an awful lot of capital announcements due this week, so it's a fingers-crossed on that one."
Cllr Crane added the council was also developing an options paper 'should that not be successful, because we cannot assume'.
The committee voted unanimously to approve the contents of the Cheshire East SEND and AP One Plan.
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