THE BOROUGH council has confirmed Oak Tree School will be delayed for “at least one year”.
The school, for children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND), was due to open in Winnersh in September 2022.
Wokingham Borough Council said it has been informed by the Department for Education about the delay, and said it made “no promises” about when the school will be ready.
Oak Tree School will support students with SEND in Wokingham and Reading boroughs.
Funding and planning consent had been confirmed, and a contractor approved to complete the site, before the delay was announced.
Cllr Graham Howe, executive member for children’s services, said: “This has come as a bolt out of the blue as we have been working well with partners on this much-needed new school for a long time – and now the DfE has told us they won’t be building it next year.
“We are urgently seeking an explanation for this decision so we can consider our options because, whatever happens, we need to provide high-quality education to all our children with SEND.”
Oak Tree School is a joint project between Wokingham Borough Council, Reading Borough Council, Brighter Futures for Children, the DfE and Maiden Erlegh Trust.
The council said the reasons for delaying the build are currently unclear, and it is waiting for a “satisfactory” answer from the DfE.
Cllr John Kaiser, deputy leader of the council and executive member for finance, added: “The DfE has said something about a problem with planning conditions, but we know that is nonsense as they are pretty standard things.
“If the real problem is money – and to be honest we suspect it is – we can have a proper conversation about that with them because this investment would not just be great for the children and families, but would save money as well.
“So, it makes no sense to delay.”