(UK) Cheshire: Council agrees to fund $21M special school for 140 students

Jan 21, 2026, North West Place: Former municipal HQ to become SEN school

https://www.placenorthwest.co.uk/former-municipal-hq-to-become-sen-school/

Cheshire East Council has agreed funding to convert the Westfields building in Sandbach for a 140-place all-through school.

Subject to planning, the site will be developed into an all-through special educational needs school for children with a wide range of additional needs.

The project was discussed at the meeting this week of Cheshire East’s children & families committee, which also heard how the council’s approach is to embed inclusive practices across all schools so that, over time, more pupils can have their needs met locally, reducing the need for specialist placements.

Cheshire East said that this change in focus will mean the pausing of a project to expand specialist provision at Springfield school in Middlewich.

With the Department for Education expected to fund Westfields, the Middlewich project had had £6m allocated from CEC’s capital budget, a programme that will now be adjusted to include the Westfields conversion as the local authority weighs up the most effective way of using its resources.

Westfields is a £16m [$21M] project, and although DfE had affirmed its commitment in 2023, CEC said it has not heard anything since the General Election, and now needs to progress matters in order to meet its duties. . . .

Cllr Crane continued: “We are frustrated by longstanding national pressures outside the council’s control which continue to drive rising demand and increased costs for specialist placements. I strongly support the call for long term reform focused on early intervention, increased resources, and better inclusion in mainstream education. We look forward to further national direction in the upcoming Schools White Paper.”

Councillors voted in November 2023 to close down the Sandbach offices, which had opened in 2008, initially accommodating borough council officials before Cheshire East’s formation in 2009.