Stockport to get new £17m special school after 'much-needed' plans signed off
04.10.2022 - 11:37
/ manchestereveningnews.co.uk
Stockport is to get a new £17m special school after 'much-needed' plans were signed off by town hall bosses. Named Pear Tree Academy, the secondary school will provide places for up to 133 pupils with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND), including children who have autism.
Based at the old Orrishmere Primary School site, in Cheadle Hulme, the scheme took a big step forward when members of Cheadle area committee unanimously backed the plans last Monday, describing them as ‘life changing’. And it was given the full go-ahead by the council’s planning committee when it met Stockport town hall just three days later.
Coun Roy Driver told the meeting he ‘welcomed the scheme’. “It’s obviously fulfilling a significant need providing SEND education.," he said. READ MORE:Historic railway building and eight-storey roundhouse could create ‘landmark’ Stockport apartments
Plans for Pear Tree Academy came about after the council successfully bid for government cash to create a new SEND secondary school. A ‘free school’, it will be run by Prospere Learning Trust which has four other schools in south Manchester.
The council is forecasting a shortfall of 120 secondary places for SEND children over the next five years. As well as benefiting some of the borough’s most vulnerable children and their families, it is also forecast to save the council £30k per pupil, per year.
Coun Wendy Meikle also spoke in favour of the proposals during the meeting - noting a recent town hall review had ‘proved there was a need for more places for young people with special educational needs’. “I know we have got the Lisburne [SEND] school [at the former Offerton Primary School site], that should be built, hopefully, by the end of next year -
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