Cheadle Hulme SEN school given green light

Stockport Council’s Planning and Highways Regulation Committee has approved plans for a new school for children with Special Education Needs (SEN) to be built in Cheadle Hulme.

Councillors were unanimous in their decision to allow the existing Orrishmere Primary School to be demolished to make way for a two storey SEN Secondary School to be build on the site off Worcester Road, Cheadle Hulme. Orrishmere Primary School closed in 2015, and the site has since been unused since March 2019, following the closure of Elm Cottage Day Nursery.

Once complete, the new SEN secondary school, to be named Pear Tree Academy, will create around 65 jobs, and provide school places for 133 children.

Planning Officers recommended councillors approve the plans for the school, put forward by the Department for Education, on the basis that it would help the borough meet its predicted requirements for SEN school places, while bringing the Cheadle Hulme site back into use.

Plans were submitted to the Council on behalf of the DfE by Nicholas Taylor + Associates; architects on the scheme are Ellis Williams. Contractors, Spatial Initiative, have already been appointed to lead on the build.