Labour's shadow cabinet member for education on Neath Port Talbot Council has said a High Court decision ruling that the local authority acted unlawfully over its plans for a ‘super school’ in the county will simply delay pupils being able to move from "older, less sustainable buildings and temporary accommodations".
Sitting in Cardiff on Monday, judges heard about the proposal to merge three English-medium schools in the Pontardawe area into one huge new, also English-medium school at Parc Ynysderw - but said the super-school could not go ahead as planned, until the council carried out a consultation around its Welsh Impact Assessment, or launched an appeal. It ruled the council had acted “unlawfully” in failing to adequately assess the impact the plans would have on Welsh-medium schools in the area.
In 2021, members of the then Labour-controlled council agreed to progress with plans to close Alltwen, Godre’rgraig, and Llangiwg primary schools and merge them into one new school, with an aim of opening it in 2024 to pupils aged three to 11. It was said the £22m development would serve more than 600 school-aged pupils and 140 part-time nursery-aged pupils. You can recap our coverage from the time, here.
