Fears are growing a brand new special needs school for 250 pupils may be in jeopardy. The new facility in Swanley was given the government go-ahead more than two years ago but progress has been "incredibly slow", Kent County Council (KCC) papers have revealed.

Officers told the Children and Young People and Education cabinet committee meeting the Department for Education (DfE) is concentrating on "live" school developments and the new facility, called Leigh Academy Birchwood, has effectively been paused. Assistant education director Ian Watts told the cross-party panel on Tuesday morning (November 18): "We won't get any ministerial decision until the spring."

KCC Liberal Democrat deputy opposition leader, Cllr Richard Streatfeild, said he was "not satisfied at all" and that it would

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