Families of children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) have staged a protest outside the council's HQ, accusing the authority of letting their children down.

The demonstration was organised by the CWAC SEND Accountability group and saw scores of protesters gather outside The Portal in Ellesmere Port, headquarters of Cheshire West and Chester Council.

The group was launched earlier this year and is comprised of parents who say they were forced to turn to each other after being failed by the council’s special educational needs (SEN) department. The group held a similar protest in May which also attracted scores of protesters.

Speaking about the latest demonstration, Mairi Busby, SEND Accountability organiser, said: “It was a big turnout for our second protest.

"While it was lovely to meet other parents, it was heartbreaking that so many are still being affected by the local issues. It was heartening to see MPs and councillors at the protest who spent time listening to families and we thank them for their support."

Cllr Adrian Waddelove, Conservative shadow cabinet member for children and families at CWAC, added: “It was honour to stand with so many parents at the second protest in their relentless campaign to drive meaningful change within the SEND services at Cheshire West and Chester Council.”

Lorna Pleavin, another SEND Accountability SEN parent, added: “Despite so many families at the protest going through life-change difficulties due to CWAC SEND team I found the protest incredibly uplifting.

"There was an incredible sense of community and the fantastic turn out of councillors from all parties and their willingness to listen to difficult stories with active compassion, and their understanding of CWAC specific issues, made me feel for the first time that we could be on the cusp of change."

A Cheshire West and Chester Council spokeswoman said it was currently implementing recommendations from a review of its SEND  service and had recently approved a ‘significant increase’ in school places for children and young people with special needs.

She said: "Working closely with local schools the council has identified, and now approved, an additional 93 resourced provision places and 32 special school places.

"In addition to the 93 places outlined above, we have opened the first Cheshire West and Chester special school satellite at the start of the academic year - this means that a special school is hosted by a mainstream school."

She said it has also approved an additional 14 members of staff to support the SEND service, and added: "We will continue to build on this work to support increased capacity and promote inclusion in mainstream settings where possible across the borough."