Essex County Council has agreed the final go ahead for the £15m transformation of a former Chelmsford comprehensive into two new special needs schools.

Approximately 2.5 hectares of land at the former St Peter’s School in Fox Crescent is to be set aside for two new free special schools, leaving the remainder of the 17 hectare plot for comprehensive residential development.

The special schools – one providing 70 places for children aged seven to 16 with autism and another providing 64 places for children with social, emotional and mental health needs – will be delivered by ECC but paid for directly by the Department for Education (DfE), that has already agreed to the funding.

Construction is expected to start once planning and procurement processes have been completed and it is currently anticipated that both schools, known as Fox and Hawthorn, will open in September 2021 under a 125-year lease to the academy sponsors, the SEAX Trust and the Beckmead Trust, which runs the Beckmead Family of Schools in the Croydon area.

Councillor Ray Gooding, Essex County Council Cabinet Member for Education, said: “The need for school places for children and young adults with autism and social and emotional mental health needs has been rising.

“We are determined to meet that need even though these are financially straitened times.

“Direct grants from the DfE, the reuse of land already allocated for education purposes and the involvement of our multi-academy trust partners, means Essex County Council can provide excellent education to many more children and young adults with special educational needs in the county without placing any extra burden upon the Essex taxpayer.

“These three exciting projects underline Essex’s desire to become an outstanding provider of education to all of its children and young people.”

Cllr John Spence said: “I wouldn’t want us to lose sight of the important strategic context here. These schools are part of the network we are creating across the county. They are going to reduce the number of times children are going to have to leave the county in order to get the care they need.

“They are going to improve the quality of education those young people will receive, and I having responsibility for adults absolutely understand the importance of getting things as far down the track as we can so these youngsters receive the support they need in their early years to enable them to live full and enjoyable lives.”

The residential development is to be made in a separate decision but is expected to be considered for as many as 163 homes. An application for housing is expected to be submitted between April and July 2019 for as many as 163 homes – with taxpayers bankrolling the initial stages of the multi-million pound development.

Essex County Council has agreed to invest £1.7m into achieving planning permission from Chelmsford City Council and in obtaining Government grant funding of £925k towards demolition and enabling works of the site, which has been