'Huge pressure' on special needs provision

Hartlepool Council is considering measures to increase capacity

A council has warned it is reaching "crisis point" supporting children with special educational.

Hartlepool Council Councillors said it was struggling to meet demand for special education needs and disabilities (Send) provision.

The authority said that when it could not meet demand it had to use the independent sector, which was expensive and often out of the area.

In a bid to ease the pressure, it said it was considering measures such as extending the borough’s only primary special school.

Sally Robinson, executive director for children and joint commissioning services, said the council was “reaching absolute crisis point”, the Local Democracy Reporting Service reported.

A report for a meeting of the council’s children’s services committee was told scoping work had started around an extended build at Springwell School, but this would be likely to cost more than £1m.

The school has also made £66,000 worth of adaptations to support six more children and prevent them being placed out of area.

Councillors also heard several mainstream schools were taking action to meet demand, including Grange Primary, which would provide additional resourced provision for a further 12 children, adding to the existing 21 Send places.

In addition, Greatham Primary was looking to accommodate 20 children in a project costing £19,000.