Plans for a new secondary school in Middlesbrough for children with severe learning difficulties look set to be given the green light.

If approved by the council’s planning committee, a new single-storey building would be built beside the existing Discovery Special Academy primary school on Sandy Flatts Lane in Acklam. It would accommodate 70 pupils with special educational needs and 40 new members of staff.

The new school would cater for children aged 11-16 and is aimed at providing a pathway for the nursery and primary school aged children at the same site. The application by Tees Valley Education Multi-Academy Trust has been recommended by officers for approval with conditions.

The land is designated as green wedge which would usually be safeguarded from development. A report to the committee said an exception could be considered, “as the development would have an over-riding benefit to the community as a whole and would not result in the significant loss of open space.”

The car park would be extended with 32 new spaces while ten additional minibuses would take pupils to and from the school. Six letters of objection were received from local residents with several concerns surrounding parking issues and additional traffic along Sandy Flatts Lane.

One resident said there are already problems on the road which would be exacerbated by more school traffic. “Parking from parents is still a issue with reckless parking either on pavements or in a line up to four cars on the school sidewith part pavement parking on the other,” he said.

“We will have a total of 100 car parking spaces plus, excluding coaches, in and out, plus cars parked on the road adjacent to the school entrance.”

It was also claimed the existing access road is not wide enough to cope with the amount of traffic. However, the report to the committee said the road meets all local and national guidance, noting the majority of children are brought in by minibus and the proportion of children arriving by car is “low”.

The report also noted the site is on land that is designated as green wedge which should usually be safeguarded from development. The report said an exception could be considered, “as the development would have an over-riding benefit to the community as a whole and would not result in the significant loss of open space.”

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Northern Gas Networks initially objected to the application, as the proposed works are close to a gas transmission system. The report said the developer must provide assurances that the works would not impact the system and protective measures should be put into place during the construction phase.

A number of trees would be removed however the application states an arboriculture assessment identified they were of “low to moderate quality”. It was recommended that a condition should be implemented for replacement planting to compensate for the trees lost.

The council’s planning and development committee will meet to make a decision on the proposal on Thursday.