The opening of a ‘desperately needed’ new £17m special school has been delayed. Pear Tree Academy is set to provide places for up to 133 secondary pupils with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND), including those with autism. It will be based at the derelict Orrishmere Primary School site, in Cheadle Hulme, which has become a magnet for anti-social behaviour over recent years.
Councillors passed the plans last October and were delighted that children would benefit from being educated closer to home, while the authority would also save thousands by not having to shell out on external placements. The Worcester Road school - a modular building to be built ‘off-site’ - was set to open this year.
But there has now been a delay after the Department for Education decided to change contractor, meaning it has now been pencilled in for 2024-25. Coun David Meller, who represents Cheadle Hulme North, says he is furious over the setback.
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“This delay is appalling news not just for local residents, who have to put up with the derelict Orrishmere Primary site and the trouble it can attract, but for the children in Stockport who desperately need this school,” he told the Local Democracy Reporting Service.
