Special needs row petition signed by 30,000

Ellie Costello handed in the petition to Warwickshire County Council on Tuesday

A petition calling for the resignation of three councillors in a row over comments about children with special educational needs has been signed by more than 30,000 people.

Warwickshire county councillors Jeff Morgan, Brian Hammersley and Clare Golby have faced calls to stand down following remarks they made during a meeting of the children and young people scrutiny committee in January.

The authority has voted to approve a proposal to provide mandatory special needs training for those who serve on panels which deal with providing the services.

The councillors at the centre of the row have apologised and an investigation into their remarks is under way.

The councillors had been discussing the county’s special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) provision.

Their comments included the claim that children were “just really badly behaved” and that parents were swapping diagnosis tips on social media.

Campaigner and parent carer Ellie Costello handed in the petition to the county council at a full council meeting on Tuesday.

Parents of children with special educational needs said they wanted the councillors who made the remarks to stand down

Ms Costello told the BBC the comments exposed a perspective that “needs to be challenged and highlighted”.

She said there had been some “great intentions” and “contrition” from the council, adding she was pleased the motion on training was adopted.

The Conservative leader of the council Izzi Seccombe said the authority had had “a very difficult time” over the matter.

The cross-party motion to introduce the training for councillors was backed unanimously by councillors.

Mr Morgan, Mr Hammersley and Mrs Golby attended the meeting and all voted in favour of approving the motion on training.

The petition was handed in before a meeting of the full council

Mrs Seccombe said she did not believe that anyone could sit on a committee that deals with special educational needs provision without being trained.

She added three training days would be happening within the next few weeks.

The council launched an investigation in January after receiving hundreds of complaints about the comments.

It appointed an independent external investigator because of the volume of complaints.

The council estimated it would take about 12 weeks to carry out the investigation and finalise reports.

The three councillors have already been removed from the committee where they made the remark but Mrs Seccombe had resisted calls to suspend them the Conservative group.

During the meeting in question, Mr Morgan asked whether some children receiving funding were "just really badly behaved".

Mr Hammersley questioned if "something in the water" was increasing special needs cases.

Mrs Golby, asked whether the increase in cases could be linked to social media sites where "families are swapping tips on how to get their children diagnosed".