A £4.2m scheme to provide a new school for Hampshire children with special educational needs has gone on hold because of a nest of bats.

Work on the new Lankhills School at Winchester has been delayed for months after the protected creatures were discovered in an empty building due for demolition.

The school, which will cater for 160 pupils with moderate learning difficulties from around the county was to open in a year's time, with work set to start this month.

But the work has been forced back until October because of the need to get a special licence to demolish the bats' roost.

Now, the much-needed facility in Andover Road is not expected to be ready for use until spring 2003.

Planners at the county council, which is backing the scheme, have also been faced with complex work over access to the site.

education chairman, Don Allen, said: "I would not wish to pretend its anything other than a serious setback and it will create some problems in terms of staff arrangements.

"It is extremely unfortunate and there is no point in pretending otherwise."

When open, the school will provide modern facilities such as a hydrotherapy pool, a physiotherapy suite, a sound room and laboratories for 11?19-year-olds.

The scheme will also include a boarding house for over 16s and a sensory garden.

In the meantime, a sister project to extend Compton' Shepherd's Down School to provide teaching facilities for 135 children with complex learning difficulties is still set for completion next summer.