Malmesbury / Trowbridge SENs Saved

Residents in Malmesbury are celebrating following news that the Special Educational Needs provision in the town, which the Conservative-run Wiltshire Council had proposed closing, has been saved following a campaign spearheaded by local councillor Simon Killane.

Simon Killane commented, "The mums, dads, governors, teachers and children of Malmesbury fought hard with me to make sure that Wiltshire Council understood that our incredibly successful Special Learning Centre should not close. We have demonstrated that this type of centre is vital to our community. I am sure our campaign helped to save other centres, and educate decision makers about the importance of locally supporting children with special educational needs. We are delighted that all those children from Wootton Bassett to Malmesbury will now get the local educational support that they so rightly deserve."

Liberal Democrat Group Leader, Jon Hubbard, said, "I am delighted for the people of Malmesbury that the effective campaigning led by Simon Killane has resulted in residents being listened to, and some SEN provision in Malmesbury has been retained. This shows the importance of having a hardworking councillor who lives in and fights for their community.

"Liberal Democrats have been at the forefront of scrutinising this SEN review and were instrumental in organising a special scrutiny exercise of the recommendations."

In Trowbridge the SEN centre at Studley Green School has also been reprieved. Local Councillor Helen Osborn said, "I am pleased that after a lot of lobbying and work behind the scenes involving Lib Dem councillors including myself, that we were able to retain a good range of Special Educational Needs support facilities at Studley Green Primary School in Trowbridge. As the local Unitary councillor in regular communication with the School I know just how much this is appreciated."