Horncastle special needs school expansion plan approved

The new building will include 17 classrooms, a main hall, physiotherapy rooms and sensory and calming rooms.

Plans to nearly double the capacity of a special needs school in Horncastle have been approved.

Lincolnshire County Council has been given permission for a new two-storey building at the town's St Lawrence School.

Pupil capacity is expected to increase from 80 to about 150 and council bosses hope work will start this autumn.

The council said its aim was to limit the number of pupils travelling outside the county for their education.

The school currently operates well over capacity, with 178 pupils supported by 78 staff, according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service.

The new building will include 17 classrooms, a main hall, physiotherapy rooms and sensory and calming rooms.

While pupil numbers will reduce after the new build, the plans say children will be offered "much improved and specialist teaching spaces, enabling [the school] to meet a wider range of needs".

The old school will be kept open during building works to minimise disruption to teaching, but when the new building is completed, the old building will be demolished to make way for an outdoor playing field.