Progress has been made on plans to add more special needs places at a Kenilworth primary school, while a scheme to massively expand the site has been stripped back.

Planners at Warwickshire County Council (WCC) have given the go-ahead for a new building for children with social, emotional and mental health needs (SEMH) to be built at St John's School and Nursery, with the hope the new facility will be finished in time for the start of term in September.

This marks a significant step forward in the two-year saga of delays and amendments to the expansion of the Mortimer Road school.

Crucially, the build this summer will not include the extensions to two of the school buildings which would have helped create a further 210 school places.

The latest plans put forward - by the county council itself - said: "There is, as you will be aware, a relatively lengthy recent planning history to this site, and the applicant [WCC] is conscious that the extent of development proposed to be delivered at the school has altered considerably over the past couple of years.

"The applicant remains hugely grateful for the time invested by yourself and your colleagues in considering and advising on the various proposals presented for this site during that period.

"However, the chronic shortfall in available classroom – particularly SEND – space within Warwickshire has remained throughout that period, such that it remains the applicant's intention to direct important strategic capital investment towards this site as a means of addressing that established need."

The plans approved in July allow for the new building to take shape under 'permitted development rights' rather than a full planning application needing to be submitted.

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Should the bigger plans to expand the school come back onto the table, full planning permission would be needed for those.

"The applicant remains committed to delivering the proposed SEMH building as a matter of urgency in the hope of that development being completed and operational by the start of the next academic year," the application continued.

"The new SEMH building will therefore be delivered in isolation."

Over £6 million was previously ring-fenced for the larger project. It remains to be seen how much of this money will now be spent and whether the rest of the funds will be protected in case the rest of the project is finished.

A public consultation on the project was held in 2023.

The project was originally due to be finished in 2025.