Two new schools for children with additional needs are set to be built after long-awaited funding has been announced.
Bath and North East Somerset Council signed off on plans to build a 120-place special school and a 55-place alternative provision school last year, but the funding was frozen by the government.
Following an 18-month delay, the money has now been confirmed, with the new schools planned to be built at the vacant Bath Community Academy, which closed seven years ago.
Councillor Manda Rigby said: “These schools will provide much-needed specialist places for children and young people and… will reduce the need for families to travel out of the area.”
The Department for Education will fund and build both Green Ways Academy, a school for children with special educational needs and disability (Send), and the Sulis Academy, which will offer alternative provision.
Currently, a lack of Send spaces in Bath and North East Somerset means the council is paying for taxis to drive children to schools across Somerset, Bristol, Wiltshire, and further afield.
Bath MP Wera Hobhouse said families in her city have been “waiting years” for the new schools.
She added: “There is still much more to do.
“I will be scrutinising the government’s long-anticipated and delayed Send white paper closely to see whether it delivers the real reforms needed to fix a broken system and ensure vulnerable children are properly supported.”
