Plans for two new special schools in Kent have been given the go-ahead by the government.

An application by Kent County Council (KCC) to establish sites in Swanley and Whitstable has been approved by the Secretary of State for Education, Gillian Keegan.

Both will be for pupils with profound, severe and complex needs with the Swanley school being able to cater for 250 children while the other will have a capacity of 120.

KCC’s Cabinet Member for Education and Skills, Cllr. Rory Love, explained the government’s decision will mean youngsters can go to schools which are closer to their homes.

He said: “This announcement by the Department for Education (DfE) is fantastic news for Kent and for many parents of children who have profound special education needs.

“The school in Swanley is required as both schools serving these needs in North Kent are currently full, and the population continues to grow.

“The school in Whitstable is needed because children living locally who require a special school place are having to travel to Thanet or Sittingbourne.

Cllr Love went on: “Our successful bids will enable more children to go to a school that meets their needs closer to where they live.

“Having local schools will save the children up to an hour of needless travelling every day, cut transport emissions, and reduce the transport cost burden for council taxpayers.”

The proposals were included in KCC’s current Commissioning Plan for Education Provision.

The bids were submitted by the council as part of its Safety Valve submission to the DfE last Autumn.

The green light comes just a few months after work began on building a special school on Sheppey, to be run by the Sabden Multi-Academy Trust.

As part of the application, KCC provided a draft specification document setting out the key facts of each school.

The next stage in the process is to advertise the opportunity for trusts to apply to open the new schools. The assessment of trust applications will be centrally run by DfE, with some local authority involvement.

KCC will be organising engagement events to generate high-quality applications and will set out more details for prospective applicants about the context of local SEND provision.

Groups will have until 3rd November 2023 to submit their applications.

Department officials will continue to work with KCC to secure sites, carry out necessary surveys and progress the feasibility phase of the project.

The Minister for Children, Families and Wellbeing, MP Claire Coutinho, said: “Making sure children with special educational needs and disabilities get a superb education is a priority.

“Today we’re making sure that those reforms are informed by the experiences of real families, up and down the country, and creating the thousands of new places at specialist schools and in staff training courses that are needed to make sure our plan is a success.”