A cross-party group of Royal Borough councillors has raised questions around the lost funding and ‘restricted’ opportunities for scrutiny following a decision to withdraw from a Government programme to build a special school in Windsor. In 2023, the Royal Borough was successful in its bid to take part in the Department for Education’s (DfE) programme for a wave of new special free schools across the country. The special educational needs school for children aged seven to 16 was planned on a site in a new housing development to the west of Windsor, between the A308 and Dedworth Road. At a cabinet meeting on Tuesday (February 24) councillors heard Windsor’s special school would be ‘significantly delayed’ and decided to withdraw from the programme instead. Speaking to the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS) after the meeting, Cllr Coneron said ‘there is a big why’ around the scrutiny.

Source: Express February 28, 2026 08:00 UTC