95% In Favour

NINETY-FIVE percent of respondents to a recent official Essex County Council (ECC) consultation exercise, have given their approval to the Council’s desire to establish a new special educational needs (SEN) school at Rawreth, on the edge of Rayleigh.

The consultation, which was initiated back in February, asked local residents their opinion on the proposals and the response rate has been one of the highest the County Council has ever seen.

Of the 823 individuals who responded – a near record for a consultation of this type – 779 (95%) were in favour, with only 44 (5%) against.

The results of the consultation exercise, which ECC was legally required to undertake, will now be fed into the County Council’s Cabinet, who will decide on whether or not to proceed with the plans, before the end of May. If approved, the County Council will then initiate a competition for a Multi-Academy Trust to build and run the school, which will then open sometime during the 2025-26 academic year.

Rayleigh and Wickford MP, Mark Francois, who originally launched the campaign for the new SEN School, in the House of Commons, back in July 2023, warmly welcomed the result. He said: “This is fantastic news. My constituents have approved this idea by a ratio of 19 to 1 and the concept is clearly very popular.

“If we can even build the school a bit larger than originally intended, so much the better and I will now lobby for the extra resources we might need to achieve that. We will now

move forward to help deliver this much needed SEN school – knowing we have strong public support – and for which I would like to thank my all of constituents who took the time and trouble to reply, on this very important topic.”

Commenting on the results of the consultation, County Councillor Tony Ball, the County Cabinet Member for Educational Excellence, Skills and Lifelong Learning added: “We are extremely heartened by the overwhelmingly positive response to the consultation, which, in numerical terms alone, was simply ‘off the scale.’

“While the original base case in the consultation was for a school catering for ‘100 plus’ special needs pupils, such has been the strength of support that we will now also begin costing up an option for a larger school, nearer to 200 pupils, for the County Cabinet to consider next month.

“Either way, subject to their approval and subsequent planning permission, we hope to open the new school in the 2025-26 academic year.

“I want to thank all those people who responded and backed this very exciting idea.”

Picture: Mark Francois MP and County Coun Tony Ball pictured outside County Hall, after the announcement that 95% of respondents to a ECC Consultation support a new SEN school, in Rayleigh.

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