THE uncertain future of several under threat primary schools in Powys has sparked debate between rival political parties over whether parents and pupils are being given “false hope” that they will be kept open.

Under the previous Conservative-Independent coalition on Powys County Council (PCC), the axe had swung on schools in Dolau, near Llandrindod Wells, Castle Caereinion, near Llanfair Caereinion, Churchstoke, Llanbedr, near Crickhowell, and Cradoc in Brecon over the course of the last 12 months – although the decision to close Churchstoke Primary School was later abandoned.

Following May’s county council elections the political landscape of Powys changed dramatically and now a coalition made up of the Liberal Democrats and Labour is in charge.

After the election Llanfihangel Rhydithon Community Primary School in Dolau and Llanbedr Church in Wales Primary School were handed a reprieve – delaying decisions until August 2023.

But Conservative councillor Iain McIntosh has accused opposition group leaders of going back on promises they campaigned on to get themselves elected, saying the decisions had only delayed the inevitable.

Speaking after the July 5 meeting of the council’s new cabinet, Councillor McIntosh said: “Cabinet members and elected councillors making up the coalition attended protest walks and other events to campaign against the closure of Cradoc, Llanfihangel Rhydithon and Llanbedr schools. 

County Times: Llanfihangel Rhydithon Community Primary School pupils have been fighting valiantly to keep their village school open Llanfihangel Rhydithon Community Primary School pupils have been fighting valiantly to keep their village school open

“Comments were made by candidates from both parties in the press, on election leaflets, on social media and on the doorstep, convincing members of the public that if they voted for Liberal Democrat or Labour candidates, Cradoc, Llanfihangel Rhydithon and Llanbedr schools would be protected from closure.

“Since the election, it has become clear that the new coalition no longer want to keep the schools open. Instead, you have indicated you want to proceed with the plans to close Cradoc school and you want to kick the decision to close Llanbedr and Llanfihangel down the road for another year, with both schools still closing then.

“Parents, teachers and children associated with both of these schools are now being given false hope that the schools will be kept open.”

The new cabinet said the Dolau proposals would provide extra time to allow an investigation into changing its language category to Welsh, which could be aided by the Welsh nursery provision on the site.

The Llanbedr delay will allow time for a wider catchment area review to take place before a decision is taken on how to reorganise the whole area.

But Cllr McIntosh said the delays came without a solid plan to keep the schools open, adding that the Welsh Government would not legally prevent the closures, despite the cabinet's own claims to the contrary.

But council leader James Gibson-Watt insisted Cllr McIntosh's claims were inaccurate.

“The policy we laid out and are pursuing now is that the schools transformation policy will be pursued on the basis of secondary school cluster/catchment reviews before any decisions on changes to school provision are made,” he said.

“This would enable us to consider reorganisation based on the close working arrangements between schools we saw developed during the Covid pandemic period.

“A big part of our objections to the previously proposed closures was and is that the decisions were made based on individual school closures rather than a coherent review of an entire area. This, in our view, ran counter to the policy outlined in the agreed Strategy for Transforming Education in Powys, a document which we actively contributed to and, in principle, support.

“We were also concerned that the closure proposals may have given insufficient weight to the rural schools element of the Welsh Government’s Schools Organisation Code.

“At no stage did we ever suggest that all schools in Powys will remain open forever. However, we did say we would review the school closure decisions previously made in line with concerns raised during scrutiny meetings and that is what is taking place.”

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Cllr Gibson-Watt insists that the coalition’s aim is to make the process more transparent.

“Further decisions following those reviews will be made in a timely manner and with enhanced community involvement,” he added.

“Our aim is to retain as many rural schools in Powys as are viable, but to achieve that it will require primary school clustering arrangements to be developed and in many cases that may also have to involve the absorption of those primary clusters in to an all-through school (4-16/18) structure operating on multiple sites.

“This process will be gradual and will take some time. It will also involve extensive and enhanced consultation, including sharing all the data officers use to model transformation plans with the communities of Powys before changes are proposed, not afterwards, as has too often been the case in the past.

“This work has been complicated by the existence of the minimum £76 million maintenance backlog that the previous cabinet, which included Cllr Iain Macintosh, was aware of but chose not to share with the public, including the very significant financial costs associated with maintaining Cradoc Primary School.”