BUILDING costs for a new special school in Wilmslow doubled to more than £6m because the council wasn’t fully prepared when it was approved, a councillor claimed.

Cheshire East’s children and families committee agreed in July 2021 the Dean Row Centre at Wilmslow could be remodelled and refurbished as a satellite site for the highly-rated Springfield School at Crewe.

It was expected the new site in the north of the borough would be open by September 2022 and the estimated refurbishment cost was £3m.

Eighteen months later the cost of the required works has spiralled to £6.1m and councillors at Monday’s committee meeting were told it was hoped the satellite school, which will provide up to 80 places for children and young people with autism spectrum disorder, will be completed by November.

Cllr Janet Clowes said she was not criticising the project, which she fully supported, but the way it has been handled.

Knutsford Guardian: Cllr Janet ClowesCllr Janet Clowes (Image: Cheshire East Council)

“I appreciate there are delays. We knew it was an ambitious timeline because we knew our planning department was under pressure but, not only that, the plans themselves changed,” said the Conservative group leader.

“My criticism is the ducks weren’t all in a row back in 2021 and they should have been so we could make an informed decision.”

She said the concerns she raised at the time were justified and asked about contract locks to ensure there was not another meeting calling for more money for the scheme.

Poynton councillor Jos Saunders asked: “Who had oversight of the management of the scheme? Have we learned enough lessons that we don’t actually incur these costs again because, at the end of the day, all of us here are custodians of our residents’ money.

Knutsford Guardian: Cllr Jos SaundersCllr Jos Saunders (Image: Cheshire East Council)

“We’re here to represent them and I’m sure all of us would agree, I don’t think the residents would be too impressed by this, by the costs going up by 100 per cent.”

Council officer Mark Bailey agreed the timeline had been ambitious and said the delays were down to various planning issues, including a further assessment which was needed on trees.

He said the need to meet low carbon requirements had also added to the cost of the scheme and officers were now looking at the process and there would be lessons learned.

Committee chair Kath Flavell asked officers to send a copy of the ‘lessons learned’ report to all committee members.

Knutsford Guardian:

Cheshire East is desperately short of places for children with special educational needs, which means many youngsters have to travel miles out of the borough to specialist schools. This new school is very much needed.

Cllr Flavell said: “At the end of the day it is very disappointing how this has happened but it is still cheaper than not doing it. The savings that are going to be made by this are much greater than the increase in the costs and that’s what we need to remember. It’s still worth doing.”