Controversial plans to close to close three schools in the Swansea Valley are being reconsidered as Neath Port Talbot Council says it is seeking alternative ways to bring 21st Century School standards to the area.
Three Swansea Valley schools had been earmarked for closure in 2024 by the then Labour-run council, sparking major concerns from local residents. Plaid Cymru Member of the Senedd for South Wales West, Sioned Williams, described the plans at the time as "utterly undemocratic and quite frankly shameful".
Labour lost overall control of the council in the recent 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. And the council has announced an update on the proposed schools reorganisation decision, which would have seen pupils transferred to a new super-school at Parc Ynysderw, Pontardawe. You can read more more stories about Neath Port Talbot by clicking here.
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Alltwen, Godre’rgraig and Llangiwg Primary schools were expected to close in 2024 to be replaced by an English-medium 3-11 school and specialist Learning Support Centre for pupils with a statement of Autistic Spectrum Disorder, a decision taken by the Council's cabinet on October 20, 2021.
In a statement, the council said: "The decision (in October, 2021) triggered a process of communicating with local schools around the next steps and general planning for the construction of the new school and swimming pool. A successful tender exercise took place to secure a contractor to begin stage one of a two stage process.
"An appointment of a contractor to undertake stage one will see contract works take place at an initial stage with no obligation on the council to carry out the second stage which includes building the development. Stage one includes developing the design information, assessments of traffic and site conditions, ground investigations and obtaining planning approval.
"The hopes are that allowing stage one works to progress will allow opportunities to meet the timescales of the October, 2021, decision but could highlight any future changes needed for the project to be successful. The decision has been made to avoid further anxiety for school staff and families involved in the project with Neath Port Talbot Council starting discussions with Welsh Government Ministers to establish what information they may require from the council."
Neath Port Talbot Council's cabinet unanimously approved the proposal on October 20 following an impassioned education scrutiny committee meeting. The committee supported the recommendation by 12 votes to 11, with one abstention. You can get more Neath and Port Talbot news and other story updates straight to your inbox by subscribing to our newsletters here.
Councillors who opposed the plans questioned the pupil intake figure for the new £22.7 million school, saying the three primaries only had 533 children between them. "Where are the other pupils coming from?" said Cllr Alun Llewelyn. He also wanted to know if other sites had been assessed for a new Godre'rgraig primary, which had to relocate to the grounds of Cwmtawe Community School in 2019 due to a potential landslide risk at its Ystalyfera home.
But Cllr Suzanne Paddison said at the time that new schools like the one proposed offered a broader range of subjects than smaller ones. "What we are trying to achieve here is a major step up in the type of education the children receive," she said.
The committee heard there were 297 objections to the new school proposal during a statutory objection period. One of these said children "will be lost in a sea of 650 faces", while another said "the sense of community is so important in villages such as ours in the Swansea Valley and we cannot lose this".
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