SPECIAL educational needs places could be created at a village school.

Shropshire Council hopes to offer up to 10 places at Whittington Primary School from September.

They would be available for primary age learners with communication and interaction difficulties, including autism conditions.

A consultation into the proposal was launched on Monday and runs for four weeks.

Ed Potter, deputy cabinet member with responsibility for education, said: “Shropshire Council is committed to promoting high standards for all children and young people, including those with special educational needs.

“We would like to receive comments from all members of the communities who have a view on the proposal.

“The final decision, which will take account of all representations and comments, will be made following the end of the consultation period.”

The proposal comes after a review in October 2017 which recommended how additional capital funding from the Department for Education should be invested.

The report highlighted particular gaps for academically-able learners who may struggle with some environmental and social aspects of school life.

Carl Rogers, headteacher of Whittington CE Primary School, said: “I am very excited about the possibility of developing specialist provision within our school.

“Because of our excellent reputation and wealth of experience, I believe that we are ideally suited to support the local authority’s plan to develop high needs provision attached to mainstream primary schools. ”

He added: “The planned provision will not only allow us to improve the quality of our offer for children with complex needs, but to improve the quality of our offer for all of the children in our school.”

The consultation runs until July 29 and is available at shropshire.gov.uk/get-involved

It coincides with a separate consultation from Shropshire Council on communicating with children and young people aged up to 25 with special educational needs or disabilities, and their families.

It runs until July 31 and is available on the same webpage.