'PARTICULAR' work is to be carried out so "significant" planning application risks associated with delivering a new special school in south Essex can be sidestepped, Essex County Council has been told.

The financing for the first special school in one of Essex's most rural areas has been agreed by the education authority amid a need for the county to provide an additional 612 SEND places by 2026 – but there is a hefty risk permission may not be granted by the planning authority.

However, Mark Francois, MP for Rayleigh and Wickford, told the planning committee at Essex County Council he hoped Rochford District Council could take a "proactive, positive and collaborative approach" to delivering the 190-place special school for children and young people with severe learning difficulties once it receives an application.

The school is being planned with two campuses – with 40 places at Chetwood in South Woodham Ferrers and 150 places at the 500-home Wolsey Park development in Rayleigh.

If all goes to plan it could be open by September 2026.

Essex County Council owns the site of the former Chetwood School, six miles from Wolsey Park. The Chetwood building is currently vacant and is subject to a 25-year lease which started in August 2010 to William de Ferrers School.

The council is looking to agree terms for the termination of the lease.

However, Essex County Council adds there is a high risk that planning permission for the Wolsey Park site – initially set aside for a primary school that is no longer needed – will not be granted due to site constraints.

The council says it is the only site readily available for such provision and it will make use of the DfE funding. However, it adds "there are significant risks to delivery".

To provide 150 special school places a three-storey building is needed but the site area is small for a building of this capacity.

The council says the school will need to be designed to minimise the impact on neighbours, but it may not be possible to come up with a design, which is acceptable in planning terms.

It also says the land required for the building, parking and drop off, pick up area will leave insufficient space to meet normal standards for outdoor recreation which could result in a planning objection from Sport England.

Also, a new requirement for developments to produce a 10 per cent net gain in biodiversity may not be accommodated.

The number of potentially 150 morning and 150 afternoon drop-offs for pupils plus over 100 staff and visitor cars will increase traffic on the roads on the estate which could also lead to objections to planning, it adds.

Mr Francios said he could see no "planning showstopper" that could not be addressed.

He said Rochford District Council are looking to engage with the multi-academy trusts which could run it "so that any planning issues can be resolved with the bidders before they are submitted.

He added that Rochford District Council are willing to enter into a planning performance agreement so specific dedicated officer time can be used to try to expedient and to resolve any application issues that might arise.

He added: "This is an absolutely vital project in order to provide a new special needs school in an area where currently demand massively outstrips supply."

The county says the increased need for provision for children and young people with moderate learning difficulties and severe learning difficulties in south Essex has placed "considerable pressure" on existing special schools.

A recently published DfE assessment showed that Essex's special schools are currently operating at "significantly beyond" their physical capacity.

The number of children and young people who live in Essex with an Education Health Care Plan (EHCP) has increased by 34 per cent in the last four years from a total of 8,268 in 2018 to 11,092 in 2022.

Over the same period, there has been a 46 per cent increase in Essex's special school population from 2015 to 2022.

Its special school forecasting is showing that the number of children for whom an EHCP is maintained will increase by 23 per cent between 2021 and 2026 to 12,612 EHCPs.

By 2026 Essex will need an additional 612 special school places to meet the anticipated growth of children and young people with an EHCP who need a special school place.

The council forecasts that by 2029 it will have between 13,609 and 15,020 SEND children by 2029.

This need has become acute in Rochford where there is no special school provision.

The council is also facing pressure after admitting its performance in assessing children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) is "unacceptable".

Its assessment backlog has been assessed as the worst in England, although its performance has improved "slightly" from the 99 per cent of assessments taking longer than the 20-week deadline.

As of May 1, there are 2,237 open cases. Of these, 26 cases have been open longer than 52 weeks.

To tackle it Essex County Council is due to spend more than £1 million on paying for extra special needs assessment specialists in a bid to reduce its backlog.

Mr Francois is standing as the candidate for the Rayleigh and Wickford constituency. The other candidates are James Hedges, Labour; Stewart Mott, Liberal Democrats; Grant Randall, Reform UK; and Chris Taylor, Green.