AN ambitious project to bring together on one site Withins Secondary School and Firwood special school has been given a cash boost.

Bolton education chiefs want to move Firwood -- a special school for 11 to 19 year olds with a range of learning difficulties-- from Tonge Moor to the Withins site in Breightmet.

Both schools are in need of development, but Bolton education officials say that improving each site would be too costly.

Now the Department for Education and Skills has announced that the move of Firwood to the Withens campus has received funding from its "targeted capital initiative".

The project is one of only 78 local education authority schemes in the country to receive funding from the initiative.

Over the next three years, more than £3.5 million in Government grants will go to the scheme.

The funding will give the two schools greatly improved facilities on their shared site and enable them to offer new learning opportunities.

The funding will also further develop the community use of the site.

A hydrotherapy pool for Firwood will be included and this will also receive support from the Lottery's New Opportunities Fund.

Specialist construction training facilities will also be there for school and wider adult use.

A Bolton Council spokesman said: "This will be the first stage of the ambitious Community Campus concept that will revitalise the site and further enhance the regeneration of the area."