BUILDING briefs for the development of new schools at Winchester and Eastleigh, for children with special needs, have won the backing of education chiefs.

The £7 million scheme is part of a major reorganisation package and will involve the closure of Tankerville School, in Eastleigh and Greenacres at Winchester.

A £4.5 million new secondary school for 160 pupils with complex learning problems is to be developed on the site of the existing Lankhills School, at Andover Road, Winchester.

At Eastleigh, extension works costing £2 million are to be carried out at Shepherds Down School to provide 135 places for children with special learning difficulties.

Both schools will have a hydrotherapy pool and the Lankhills scheme will include a separate post 16 residential block with life skills facilities. Lankhills will also be provided with a large 26-person fire evacuation and wheelchair lift, and controlled pedestrian pathways to boost security around the site.

Hampshire County Council's education buildings sub-committee has approved in principle project appraisals for the designs of the new schools.

Formal planning applications for the scheme are to be submitted to the county's planning department later this month.

Subject to the approval of the buildings, grounds and contracts panel, work is expected to start next spring with the schools ready for use by summer 2002.

Most of the money for the project has been raised through borrowing approvals and capital receipts from the sale of surplus land and property.