Hearing impairment bases at two mainstream Sutton schools which were originally earmarked for closure will remain open following a meeting of the council last night.

But it was decided at the meeting there would instead be a reduction in the number of commissioned places available at each of the hearing resource bases.

Sutton Council’s children, families, and education committee reached the decision on Wednesday (March 14) for Rushy Meadow and Overton Grange academy schools.

It now means the number of commissioned places will be reviewed in one year at Overton Grange and in two years at Rushy Meadow following an amendment to the recommendations and mounting financial pressures.

Colin Hagreen, the council’s finance and transport manager for special educational needs and disabilities (SEN), said: “When we were talking about the SEN strategy on January 4, we did so with a growing awareness that the current provision that we’ve got and the pattern of provisions we’ve got is financially unsustainable based on what the Government has given us.

“Put simply, we are spending more on higher needs than we are getting in from the Government, and that is the context in which we have had to consider these proposals.

“It is a position that is not going to get any better either because of changes to national funding formulas, which mean that – if implemented purely – the higher needs national funding formula will actually allocate about £7 million less than what we currently get.

“The only reason they are not doing that is because they are keeping allocations to local authorities cash flat. But what it does mean is that we can’t expect to get any more money in high needs funding for the foreseeable future going forward.”

Both academy schools were originally among controversial plans to be affected by a fresh SEN strategy in January, with a consultation which followed later, however responses from the public prompted a third option to be presented.

Now the number of available commissioned places at both schools - which was set at 14 for each school - will be cut to seven at Overton Grange and 11 at Rushy Meadow.

Each place at Overton Grange costs £15,801 while at Rushy Meadow it is £14,449.

Adrian Williams, the council’s interim head of education, stressed the plans were only for one year as going beyond that could disrupt current aims put in place.

He said: “In order to give some stability to the schools we have agreed to that starting point. But what we are trying to avoid is schools yo-yoing around annually because it’s very difficult to recruit and retain staff on that basis.

“On the other hand, if you don’t review it at all [then] you will get into the issue we are in at the moment where we commissioned places years ago and they haven’t been reviewed and adjusted to meet need.

“I would just like to point out as Kieran Holliday, (head of pupil-based commissioning at the council) said earlier on that, overall, numbers are rising and I suspect other committees will need to make difficult decisions to ensure that new provision is funded for emerging needs.

“So I would just urge the committee to not make any decisions that mean that you can’t look at it again for too long.”