I hope we can all agree that all children are special, and that some have special needs. Children from Newton Abbot with special needs very often have to travel far afield for their special needs to be met, to Exeter and beyond.
Therefore I welcome the proposal that a Special Needs School is established locally, here in the Newton Abbot area, to provide the specific educational needs of children from “Greater” Newton Abbot.
No site has been obtained for this site at this moment, but one of the sites being considered and perhaps it could be a favoured site, is the former Milber Infants School on Sandringham Road, Buckland.
In welcoming the possibility of such a school being provided in the area I have made a strong case for road improvements on Buckland if the former Milber Infants School site is selected. I was annoyed when none of the cash generated for road improvements by the current development off Windsor Avenue was used to alleviate local road problems. I made the case again this afternoon to the local officer over seeing this project that if the Buckland site is finally settled on, then some effort must be made to ease traffic flow problems, as Special Needs Children will almost certainly need transport in and out of school.
If re elected to Devon County Council on May 4th I am calling a special meeting of all interested parties ( County Highways/Teignbridge Council, etc) to try and put in place a long term strategy to improve vehicle movements on Buckland. I hope residents agree it’s long over due.