A NEW secondary independent school for children with social, emotional and mental health (SEMH) needs could be built to meet growing demand in Wigan borough.

Education providers are being invited by Wigan Council to take over the Lilford Centre in Tyldesley and offer places for up to 30 children currently out of school.

It will largely cater for children from Leigh, Atherton and Tyldesley who currently travel further afield to access specialist provision.

A pupil referral unit had operated out of the Lilford Centre for five years until it closed in 2013, and the chosen provider will be expected to invest in the building.

A statement on Wigan Council’s website says: “The local authority currently has 25 to 30 children out of school and this picture has been constant throughout the year.

“Most children requiring educational placements are children with SEMH problems and present with severe behavioural needs.”

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No capital funding will be assigned to the project by Wigan Council, which will offer a lease to the successful bidder.

A contract for the new school has already been put out to tender, with cabinet members expected to receive an update on the bidding process in January.

The new school will also sit outside the authority’s 10-year plan to spend £34 million transforming SEND provision in the borough.

Senior councillors were told earlier this year that demand for "special school or resources places" will increase by 35 per cent by 2036.

Plans to spend £10 million rebuilding Hope School on Montrose Avenue – the site of the former Pembec High School and Central Park Academy – have already been agreed as part of the programme.

Changes to Willow Grove Primary, Oakfield High and Newbridge Learning Community School are tabled for within the next five to 10 years.

The new proposals come a week after senior school leaders were told the government’s planned £700 million investment in SEND schools next year was "just plugging the gap" in Wigan.

Cath Pealing, the council’s assistant director for education, said it would take "significantly more investment" to see changes on the ground.

Local authorities across the UK are currently forced to skim money from mainstream school budgets to keep up with SEND demand, with £750,000 expected to be cut from school budgets next year.

Ms Pealing told the schools’ forum: “At the moment we’re robbing Peter to pay Paul. We need to get fairer funding.”