Further steps are taking place in plans to expand and relocate a special needs school for children in south west Hertfordshire.

Hertfordshire County Council announced proposals towards the end of 2021 to move Breakspeare School in Abbots Langley to Croxley Green.

The land on the former Durrants School playing field in Little Green Lane would allow the school to expand from 97 places to 210.

The county council says this will help meet "urgent demand" for special school places in Hertfordshire with an extra 350 places or so forecast by January 2025.

The relocation went out to public consultation for just over a month between October and November, and the county council's Cabinet is set to meet next month to decide whether to progress with the scheme.

Related: Proposal to relocate and expand school to meet demand for new places

Watford Observer: The land in Croxley Green that has been identified. Credit: Google MapsThe land in Croxley Green that has been identified. Credit: Google Maps

The total cost of relocating and building the new school, which caters for people aged 2-19 with severe learning difficulties, is "commercially sensitive" but some funding has already been secured with more to be sought.

According to documents published by Three Rivers District Council, a Government grant of £3.8 million has been secured from the Department for Education with around £1 million secured from the county council's school repairs and maintenance budget, and around £758,000 provided from a section 106 budget from Three Rivers.

The latter is funding secured through legal agreements with developers that in this case has been specifically allocated for educational purposes.

Three Rivers District Council is expected to provide a further £900,000 or so in funding from its community infrastructure levy (CIL) - further funding provided by developers - with Watford Borough Council, Hertsmere Borough Council, Dacorum Borough Council, and St Albans City & District Council asked to dip into its CIL funding to provide a total of £5.8 million.

Three Rivers' policy and resources committee will be asked to approve its CIL contribution for the relocation of Breakspeare School at a meeting on January 24.

A further £2 million is being sought through more county-wide section 106 contributions and papers state up to £17.9 million could be provided by the county council in the form of capital borrowing to fill any funding gaps.

Further funding opportunities are unknown.

A planning application for the new school in Croxley Green is likely to be made later this year with the county council responsible for determining the application rather than Three Rivers District Council, which is the local planning authority.

The current timetable for completion of the project is January 2024.

All existing staff would transfer across to the new site and the council says this proposal would not cause any redundancies.