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.
Labour then lost overall control of the council in the local elections in May, 2022, and the authority is now run by a 'Rainbow Coalition' from the Independent, Plaid Cymru and Dyffryn Independent groups which have agreed to share power. They decided in July, 2022, that the school plans would be reviewed. Now, the plans have hit a further stumbling block following the High Court decision.
Commenting on the decision, Councillor Sonia Reynolds, Labour's shadow education cabinet member, said: “The overall effect is to delay the building of a state-of-the-art school for children in the Swansea Valley. It means that children will continue in older, less sustainable buildings and temporary accommodations and makes uncertain the development of the much needed local facilities for children with additional learning needs that are a key part of the proposed new school development. It also stands to prevent the building of a new swimming pool for the communities in and around the Swansea Valley, where the existing pool has a very limited lifespan remaining.
“We call upon the council to act, either to progress an appeal to the ruling or to undertake the consultation on the Welsh Language Impact Assessment. Either action can enable the communities in the Swansea Valley to have clarity at the soonest possible time and to benefit from a state-of-the-art 21st Century School, much needed local facilities for children with additional learning needs and a new pool.” You can get more Neath Port Talbot news and other story updates straight to your inbox by subscribing to our newsletters here.
She added that whilst the High Court judgement did find that the council had acted unlawfully in "not including a Welsh Impact Assessment with the consultation on the reorganisation of the Swansea Valley Schools," it had not been found to have been acting unlawfully in "in failing to consult further after receipt of the Welsh Language Impact Assessment".
A statement from the Labour Group explained: “The Judicial Review judgment, which is open to appeal, found in favour of Neath Port Talbot Council on two of the three grounds put forward. The Judgement states that the Council had acted unlawfully in not including a Welsh Impact Assessment with the consultation on the reorganisation of the Swansea Valley Schools. However it also found that Neath Port Talbot Council had not acted unlawfully in failing to reopening the consultation process after obtaining the Welsh Impact Assessment and that the Judgment found that Neath Port Talbot Council had not acted unlawfully in failing to consult further after receipt of the Welsh Language Impact Assessment."
The statement continues: “The Judgement does not necessarily stop the work on school reorganisation in the Swansea Valley. It does, however, require either an appeal or for the council to proceed with a consultation on the Welsh Impact Assessment, and consider the outcome of the consultation for reorganisation proposals. We urge the council to progress the appropriate action to move progress on the reorganisation proposals. Whatever course of action the council takes going forward, the judgement ensures an extended delay in which the children from Godre’r Graig School will continue to be housed in temporary accommodation in Pontardawe. It will also inevitably result in a longer period of uncertainty for all parents, children and staff currently at Alltwen, Llangiwg and Godre’r Graig schools as to the future of their education provision.
“The Judge has given immediate leave to appeal, which is unusual. Neath Port Talbot Council has stated that it is currently considering its actions. If the ruling goes ahead, it could have implications across Wales for other school reorganisations with a real impact for Welsh Government 21st Century Schools Programmes in other Council areas.”
Elin Maher, national director of Rhieni Dros Addysg Gymreg (RhAG), an organisation that promotes Welsh-medium education and supports parents looking to enrol their children in Welsh-medium schools, said the organisation was “overjoyed” by the High Court’s ruling.
“The proposal has caused considerable concern for us as an organisation, and more widely in the community in Pontardawe, especially as the council themselves recognise that the area is one of significant linguistic importance in regard to the Welsh language. We had always maintained that the council had failed to consider the potential impact of their decision on Welsh language schools in the area,” she said.
“We faced an aggressive and threatening response from the council when matters were raised with them, and I therefore wish to extend thanks, on behalf of RhAG to all those in the wider community of Pontardawe who supported this campaign.”
She added: “A full and proper impact assessment on the Welsh language and Welsh language education was not provided by the council at the outset and the lack of such an assessment, and the lack of recognition of the significant threat to Welsh language education in the Pontardawe area as a result of the council’s failings forced us to, reluctantly, intervene. We are extremely pleased that the court has now vindicated our position.”
The High Court hearing was arranged after a judicial review earlier this year. Represented by commercial lawyers, staff at RhAG had challenged Neath Port Talbot Council’s decision to open the new school and said it “did not comply with the Welsh Government’s School Organisation Code”.
Presiding, Mr Justice Kerr said that the Council had misinterpreted the Code by not considering that local Welsh-medium primary schools would be affected by the new English-medium super school.
A spokesman for Neath Port Talbot Council said the Rainbow Coalition administration at Neath Port Talbot Council had indicated it wished to review the decision that had been taken in respect of the Swansea Valley school reorganisations.
"In light of the decision and the desire for a review, the council is now considering the next steps for the process, with the continued aim of positively transforming the educational opportunities for children and young people, and enhancing the community provision for all in the Swansea Valley," added the spokesman.
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