THE Government has backed plans to build a £4 million school in York for children with special needs using private funding.

The council has been told by the DfES plans for the Special Educational Needs (SEN) school at Hob Moor will be given the go-ahead.

The building of the special educational needs school is part of a project to build mainstream schools at Hob Moor, St Oswald's Primary School, at Fulford, and St Barnabas' School, in the Leeman Road area, through the Private Finance Initiative. The scheme involves the education authority joining forces with private companies which fund the building of the schools. Their investment is then repaid from public money over a set period of time.

The new SEN school will provide places for 120 children and is being built as part of a city-wide modernisation of SEN services.

The council's executive member for education, Coun Janet Looker, said: "This is excellent news for children and parents in York.

"We have been working hard to improve education for children in the city and this is a welcome step forward. The new school will be purpose-built and have modern facilities which will provide the right type of environment for our children's learning."

The council is also aiming to provide a brand new secondary SEN school following the review of SEN services.

By September of next year the city's four existing SEN schools will close under the plans and many youngsters will go to mainstream schools.

Coun Looker said: "The city council is absolutely committed to raising the standard of the learning environment in York's schools and this scheme is just part of a

widespread, multi-million pound programme of improvements we have delivered or are seeking to deliver across the city over the last and next few years."

Work is expected to start on the building of the new school in summer of 2004 with completion in 2005.

Updated: 15:45 Monday, January 27, 2003