Selby special needs school plans set for approval

Struggling families have called for a SEND school in the area for "years", councillors have been told

Plans for a special needs school in Selby are expected to be approved after calls from struggling families.

The multimillion-pound school would be built on farmland south of the A63 Hull Road, if given the go-ahead.

It would have capacity for 100 pupils, focusing on those with communication and interaction needs.

North Yorkshire Council is due to consider the application, which has been recommended for approval, at a planning meeting on 9 April.

Six years ago, the council placed a government funding bid for the development, saying that local families had "struggled for years with having to bus youngsters to schools in other areas".

With rising numbers of children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND), the authority estimated that 350 more SEND school places would be needed in North Yorkshire by 2028.

If approved by North Yorkshire Council, the school will be built on farmland

According to the Local Democracy Reporting Service, proposals for the school, which would employ an estimated 70 members of staff, have been met with 175 letters of support.

One parent wrote: "There are too many SEN children having to travel for hours to receive a suitable education they can access and are entitled to.

"The parents and children with neurodiversity and disabilities already have to fight far too much. This school should be a given, not another fight."

Another parent said families had been put under "great pressure and strain" with school travel problems, adding that the proposal would "help everyone".

However, both the Campaign to Protect Rural England and Osgodby Residents Association have objected to the proposal.

They highlighted the loss of grade I agricultural land and the impact it would have on those living nearby.

Objectors say the loss of farmland would not be good for the farming industry

A spokesman for the residents association said: "Too much arable land has already been lost to development in Selby District and there are many brownfield sites being left undeveloped.

"Once high quality arable land is built on, it is gone forever and cannot be replaced. This is not good for the farming industry, the environment, nor the long-term economy."

In response, planning officers said the Selby area benefited from a high proportion of the best and most versatile farmland, so the need to safeguard it was "not as critical as it may be in other locations".

In a report to be considered by the planning committee, officers stated: "It is inevitable that to deliver future development, best and most versatile land will be lost."