Council reveals plans for new specialist primary

A council has announced plans to open a specialist primary school for children with social, emotional and mental health (SEMH) needs.

Independently run Central Bedfordshire Council said the school would initially support 40 pupils, and would eventually be based on the site of the former Pulloxhill Lower School.

The building needs to be renovated - so the authority intends to place children in an unused block of an existing school 13 miles away in Dunstable, so they can be in class by the new 25/26 academic year.

However, some parents said they had "serious concerns about the lack of transparency" with the plans and accused some councillors of spreading "misleading information".

The authority said the plans, which will be discussed by its executive in August, would offer a "cost-effective response to the rising demand for specialist places" and save between £1.24m and £2.6m a year "compared to the cost of independent placements".

Steve Owen, executive member for children, families and community safety, said it would mean "children who are having difficult daily journeys and aren't being educated in the most appropriate setting are going to have easier journeys to school".

He confirmed a "modest refurbishment" of the Chiltern School on Beech Road in Dunstable, where pupils would initially be placed, would cost the authority £1m - and renovating Pulloxhill could cost around £2.6m.

"Everybody I speak to, including parents, were very happy we are making progress and putting something on the table that is available in their lifetimes," he said.

However in a letter to the council chief executive, the local SEND action group accused the authority of a "lack of transparency in the recent committee paper concerning the new provision".

They said some independent councillors were "publicly claiming on Facebook that new school places will be available in Pulloxhill this year" and added that even the committee papers referred "to the Beech Road site, yet does not make clear this site is in Dunstable".

But Owen said: "The council paper we talked about was very clear, but what was less clear was a Facebook post put out by some councillors beforehand which abbreviated the paper and missed out some figures and stages."

He added the letter to the chief executive came "from a group who have had hard times in the past and lack confidence in our ability to meet their children's needs".

"I do not think that is the council of today," he said, adding: "This was a demonstration of that and won't be the last one either."

Follow Beds, Herts and Bucks news on BBC Sounds, Facebook, Instagram and X.