(UK) Wigan: New location for special school; 25 more places

July 18, 2026, Wigan Today: Wigan Council sets out a timetable for the completion of a special needs school's new home

Ambitious plans to create a new home for a Wigan special needs school are back on track after a year of inactivity.

Moving Marus Bridge-based Hope School to Norley was always going to be done in two phases.

Its sixth-form provision moved to new premises at the site of the former Central Park/Pemberton High School as long ago as early 2024 and the original intention was to have the rest of the site cleared and rebuilt so that the remaining pupils and staff could move across by the end of that year.

But the £11m project, which is part of a bigger shake-up of special needs provision by Wigan Council across the borough, hasn’t moved as quickly as many had hoped.

The remaining Central Park buildings were finally demolished last summer but since then the barren landscape has remained virtually unchanged.

However the process to wrap up the scheme now seems finally to be getting under way as a search begins for a company to carry out the work. . . .

The new school will have 25 more places.

Wigan Council held consultations on a comprehensive redevelopment of how pupils with special educational needs (SEN) are taught locally in 2018 and ’19.

And with public backing virtually every special school is either moving to new premises or being almost totally rebuilt.