West Sussex has added £2.891m to the Oak Grove College satellite at The Pines after vandalism and decay. The 60 places are still due in September 2028.

The cost of turning The Pines in West Durrington into a satellite site for Oak Grove College has risen by £2.891m, to £12.853m. West Sussex County Council’s cabinet member for children, young people and learning, Cllr Sam Raby, approved the increase on Tuesday 10 November.

The extra money comes from the county’s SEND capital fund. The decision record says the budget approved in September 2025 was £9.962m. The rise is about 29 per cent.

The 60 extra special school places are still due for the 2028/29 school year.

Why the cost went up

The empty building on Faraday Close is in worse shape than the first estimate allowed for. The report says it has stood vacant for the last five years.

The officers’ report blames “vandalism, water ingress and deterioration of the building fabric”. Design work and condition surveys since September 2025 found work that was not in the original figures.

The report lists what the extra money pays for:

  • a full roof replacement
  • repairs to the building fabric
  • drainage
  • fire safety work
  • replacement mechanical and electrical services
  • safeguarding measures
  • changes to suit pupils with special educational needs

What is still being built

The scheme itself has not changed. The Pines will get classrooms, group rooms, a calming room, a sensory room, toilets, large spaces for dining and PE, and an outdoor play area.

On the main Oak Grove campus off Littlehampton Road, the money also pays for a new music block. A modular classroom “that has reached the end of its life” will be removed.

The report weighed two alternatives. Doing nothing would mean the 60 places were not built. Waiting would risk more decay, higher costs and missing the September 2028 opening.

Bar chart of the new £12.853m budget for the Oak Grove College satellite at The Pines by financial year: £0.469m in 2025/26, £1.600m in 2026/27, £4.234m in 2027/28, £6.150m in 2028/29 and £0.400m in 2029/30
Most of the money is spent in 2027/28 and 2028/29, the year the satellite is due to open. Chart by The Worthing Express.
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The biggest single year is 2028/29, when £6.150m is planned against £4m before. The report’s table also adds £1.080m to this financial year, 2026/27, trims 2027/28 by £0.739m and adds £0.400m in 2029/30.

Who decides the contracts

The decision hands the county’s Service Director for Property and Assets the power to finish the design, procure the building work and award the contracts within the new budget. The music block will be a separate contract.

That means the contract awards will be recorded as officer decisions. They will not come back to a councillor as key decisions.

The county argues the spending still saves money. Every local special school place, it says, reduces its reliance on independent and out-of-county placements, which cost more.

What it means for you

  • If your child has an education, health and care plan and needs a secondary special school place, the timetable has not moved. The extra places at Oak Grove arrive in September 2028, not before.
  • If you live near Faraday Close or Romany Road, the building work still needs planning permission. The county’s application, WSCC/043/26, is due to be decided by 3 December. Our earlier story sets out what is planned on the site, including the parking survey.
  • The decision can still be called in. Councillors have until Thursday 19 November to do so. If they do not, it comes into force on Friday 20 November.

Sources