Like most people, I welcome plans for the future development of educational facilities in the Bridgwater area. I also have some reservations. I am concerned about plans for the relocation of Haygrove and Penrose schools. It is my view that both these schools should be as close to the town as possible - not further away.

I think that plans for both schools to be on the same site, with shared facilities, are excellent. They reflect the huge changes made for provision for young people with special needs in the last 50 years.

When I joined what later became the social services department in 1958, children with special needs were totally excluded from the education system. Reading the BSF Somerset Prospectus and other documents, I am not convinced that the present site of Haygrove is too small for the rebuilt "co-located" schools.

Both the alternatives are quite unsuitable. Haygrove Farm with its poor access and steep gradients rule it out. Many of the Penrose pupils have mobility problems. They must have a level site.

Queenswood Farm is too far out of town and, as other correspondents have mentioned, poor access will lead to traffic problems and risk of danger.

There may be alternatives to explore, like co-locating Penrose with a school in the town. We must learn the lessons of the past, where people with special needs were banished from sight, denied education and later kept in distant and often well-meaning, institutions where they often lost touch with family and community.

Some of my concerns seem to be shared by others who wonder if Haygrove School moves from its present site, then is the resale value of the land for housing development one of the real reasons for this proposal?

Paul Besley Psychiatric social worker Bridgwater