DISTRAUGHT mother Anne Osterlind this week accused education chiefs of taking away her son's future after the axe officially fell on West Somerset's special needs units. Somerset County Council's ruling executive board approved the closure of the resource bases at Minehead First and Minehead Middle schools, at the West Somerset Community College, Kingsmead Community School in Wiveliscombe, and two others in Taunton and Wellington. The decision was taken at a meeting on Wednesday at which parents, governors and headteachers voiced their disapproval of the closures. Mrs Osterlind, who lives in Porlock, made a plea for the units to remain open and handed in a petition containing more than 300 signatures. But afterwards she claimed the decision had been "cut and dried" for months. "It was a foregone conclusion," she said. "This is a bleak, bleak day. I was living in hope that common sense would prevail but it didn't and now I just don't know what I am going to do." Mrs Osterlind's eight-year-old son Joakim is autistic and has severe learning and behavioural difficulties which pose huge problems for him and make it impossible for him to cope alongside children of his own age. He is currently being taught at Minehead First's special needs unit but with closure looming by April 2008 at the latest, Joakim - who is at the stage of a five-year-old - will be expected to move into a mainstream class. Mrs Osterlind has already warned that not only will Joakim will be unable to cope but the education of mainstream children will also be affected and disrupted. "This decision is the end of the road for my son and children like him," she said. "There is no place for Joakim in West Somerset. The county council has effectively excluded him from society because they have taken away any chance he had of becoming equipped with the tools he needs to have any sort of life in the future." Mrs Osterlind said campaigners who attended Wednesday's meeting in the hope of persuading councillors to think again had been left, stunned, shocked and finally angered by the decision. Minehead First headteacher Brenda Coupe, who also spoke at the meeting, said she was extremely disappointed and incredulous at the speed with which it had been taken. "The executive board did not listen to the very well put and eloquent speeches and speakers. "There was absolutely no cohesive argument for accepting the recommendation to close these units and the speed with which they decided it was unbelievable. "There was no discussion amongst the executive board and the whole thing was over in a twinkling of the eye." The county council intends to bring the funding invested into the units in line with that applied to special needs pupils across the rest of Somerset, which would see additional money delegated to individual schools with pupils with severe and complex needs. In recognition of West Somerset's relative geographical isolation, the authority has drawn up proposals to base an experienced and suitably qualified support team in the district - one full time teacher and two teaching assistants. But Mrs Coupe, who has a wealth of experience in special educational needs, said she was very concerned about future provision for the children using the unit. Officially there are just three children registered with the unit but that is largely because of Somerset's policy of no longer 'statementing' special needs youngsters. In reality, at least nine children are currently benefiting from the unit's resources and Mrs Coupe believes there are more who under the former statementing regime would meet the guidelines for special help. "Although they are changing the funding and the amount we receive will be cut, we will still have the children. "They are not going to be wiped away and they will still have significant needs that will have to be met in some way. "We will have to bring them on as best we can with less provision. We have to serve the children and we will find a way of doing that." The closure of the units was opposed by Minehead First, the West Somerset Community College and Kingsmead, while Minehead Middle favoured the approved option of phased closure.