Bracknell Forest Council has said it will respond to concerns of special educational needs families after an open letter was hand-delivered to its offices last week.

The letter, signed by 148 people, outlines parents ‘deep dissatisfaction’ with the local authority, calling on it to ‘improve services for our children and young people, who for too long have been an afterthought from the very services who are there to support them’.

The council had been sent the letter by The Bracknell News on behalf of parents on October 11, but a response to address the detailed concerns was refused until the letter had been sent by parents directly.

On Friday, November 1, parents handed in more than 140 copies of the letter at the council’s headquarters in Times Square.

The stunt was born out of long-running frustrations over support offered for children with special educational needs.

The letter, addressed to chief executive Susan Halliwell, has now been received and concerns outlined will be addressed, the council has confirmed.

Susan Halliwell said: “As previously promised, we will look over all the concerns carefully. Once we have thoroughly reviewed the contents of the letter we will respond fully and honestly.”

Concerns outlined include what parents say is a lack of improvements to services since the council joined the Safety Valve scheme earlier this year.

This agreement with the Department for Education gives Bracknell a £16 million investment in two new specialist facilities. In return, the council will take measures to reduce it’s overspend on the service each year.

One parent behind the letter said it represents a ‘real appetite for action’ and a desire to ‘challenge the local authority really robustly’.

The parent, who wanted to remain anonymous, said: “The questions we have are really specific, so we want really specific answers.”

Last month, finance bosses at the council said savings had virtually been ‘wiped out’ by rising costs of provision and transport.

The authority is now set to overspend by £8.5 million this year on SEN services, a reduction from £9 million last financial year.

Ms Halliwell continued: “We thank our community for raising their concerns directly with us and would like to assure residents that we are committed to improving SEND services for our children and young people – they are at the heart of our ongoing improvement programme.”