THURROCK Council has approved £7.6million for a major expansion of a special needs school in Grays, aiming to ease pressure on 200 families struggling to secure places.

The funding, agreed at a cabinet meeting on Wednesday (17 December) as part of the council's education capital programme, will deliver a 12-classroom extension at Treetops Free School in Buxton Road. The project is expected to create 120 additional places for children with special educational needs (SEN) over three years, from 2026 to 2029.

Paul Smith, CEO of Treetops Learning Community, which runs both Treetops School and Treetops Free School, welcomed the decision. He said: "It's good news for the families wanting to get their children into our schools. We've got something like 200 families waiting for a place.

"It hasn't gone to planning yet as they had to get cabinet approval, but there have been some preliminary drawings so we can see what it might look like. I would think, with a fair wind, it is at least two to three years away."

Treetops School, which opened in 2008, currently has capacity for 320 pupils. The free school was built to accommodate 140 but now has 158 enrolled, prompting the need for expansion.

"We quickly filled up the free school, so we're building an extension to that," Mr Smith added.

Speaking at Wednesday's meeting, Cllr Vikki Hartstean, cabinet member for children's services, education and community safetysaid: "We're seeking cabinet approval for the expansion of the Treetops Free School. That's really good news. It's a 12-classroom expansion and that will provide an extra 120 places for young people with special educational needs over a three-year period. These places are really needed, and I'm delighted by this."

Design feasibility studies have already been completed, with the estimated cost of £7.6m covering architects' fees and all associated expenses. The works will be funded through the Department for Education's SEN Capital Grant and Basic Need Grant, meaning no additional council resources are required.

The council also confirmed plans for a £600,000 project at Thameside Primary Academy to create a permanent alternative provision facility, funded through existing S106 receipts.

Expansion of Treetops has not been without problems.

A recent application for a two classroom temporary measures was opposed by some residents becasue of traffic and access implications.

And earlier this month traffic concerns were again expressed after an accident at the school gate.

That prompted an admission from Mr Smith at the time, who said: "When the Free School was built, Thurrock Highways agreed to commission and construct a new access road to the site, Treetops Approach.

"We were really pleased with this as we had been requesting it since the original Treetops School was built back in 2008. The schools, however, were not consulted about volumes of traffic or how we thought the access could be improved. When it was completed, we did initially close the access from Buxton Road.

"However, this resulted in some students being stuck on site waiting to leave for up to 45 minutes.

"As many of our students can exhibit very challenging behaviours, this was resulting in children and staff getting hurt so we had to reopen access down Buxton Road for traffic coming to and from Chadwell and Tilbury.

"This has eased the situation so most traffic can be off site within ten minutes.

"Alongside this, the Trust is working with the DfE and the local authority to reconfigure the internal layout of the site which should enable us to eventually close the Buxton Road gate apart from emergency vehicles, bikes and pedestrians."