Cradoc and Mount Street schools merger is rubber stamped by cabinet

Plans to merge three schools in the Brecon area which will eventually see them close and move to a new build school, will continue.

At a meeting of Powys County Council’s cabinet meeting on Friday, March 11, councillors met to discuss  merging Mount Street Infants and Junior schools as well as Cradoc primary school, under one headteacher and governing body.

The proposal was back in front of the Independent/Conservative cabinet after a period to lodge formal objections to the proposal took place between January 7 and February 4.

In total 113 objections to the proposal had been received, and at the meeting three councillors from across the political spectrum, Conservative, Labour, and Liberal Democrat spoke against the proposals.

Labour’s Cllr Liz Rijnenberg said: “This proposal should be stopped at this point; we believe the landscape has changed significantly since the idea of merging and building a new school first emerged.

“There are now a number of school transformation projects that the cabinet is committed to, they will be delivered in the context of a shrinking workforce and unprecedented labour and material shortages.”

She added that continuing issues caused by Brexit, the Covid-19 pandemic, fuel shortages and the war in Ukraine meant that the council “realistically had more than enough” to do and should commit resources to finishing the projects already underway.

Liberal Democrat Cllr Roger Williams said: “I’ve never been a great supporter of the transformation policy – if you read through the Estyn report (2019) there was more concern about secondary education and 16 plus – the emphasis on primary schools was the wrong one.”

He pointed out that the cabinet’s strategy is not supported across the council and a recent meeting asking for a pause to the school closure process had only lost due to a chairman’s casting vote.

“I think it would do well for the cabinet to reflect on the debate we had on that day, “said Cllr Williams.

Conservative Cllr Iain McIntosh believed the council were breaching the school organisation code by merging Cradoc – a rural school – with Mount Street Infants and Junior school two urban schools in Brecon.

Cllr McIntosh said: “Not only does this drive a coach and horses through the spirit and the rules laid out to protect rural schools, but it also shows how this authority does not recognise the difference between rural and urban schools.”

Head of transformation and communication, Emma Palmer said that a new build schools would provide a £10 million to £15 million investment into the area.

Ms Palmer said: “We want the best for children including the environment they learn.

“We have an updated 2021 report from Estyn which endorsed the strategy, the transformation is wider than a primary school closure programme.

“We’ve met the requirements of the school organisation code at each and every key milestone, nothing has been ignored.”

Finance portfolio holder Cllr Aled Davies said: “A strong case has been made for this merger  and hopefully we’ll see a new build in the near future.”

“On balance we need to go ahead with it.”

The cabinet voted unanimously to continue the process.

The first phase will see all three schools merged by August 31 – 2023.

The second phase is to have a new 360 place school built  on the former Brecon High School site by 2025/26.