Call-in attempt over controversial school split rejected

Elgan Hearn, Local Democracy Reporter

A county council’s legal chiefs have refused a request for an unpopular decision to spilt a school to be called-in for further probing.

Last month Powys County Council’s Liberal Democrat/Labour Cabinet took the risky decision to plough on with the Ysgol Calon Cymru proposal.

The Llandrindod Wells campus will become an English-medium secondary school, with the Builth Wells campus transforming into a Welsh-medium all-through primary and secondary school.

Splitting the schools has received very little support locally, and 35 objections had been lodged with the council during the legal period for formal objections.

The Learning and Skills committee have harboured major doubts about the proposal for some time.

At an earlier stage of the process last October, the committee had mulled over a call-in over concerns that “nothing had changed” in the cabinet’s or education officers’ approach to the scheme – despite the results of the consultation being overwhelmingly against the proposal.

Earlier this month, Learning and Skills committee chairman Cllr Gwynfor Thomas (Conservative – Llansantffraid) confirmed that he had “initiated” the call-in procedure.

The case to call-in the proposal would be put to the council’s head of legal services and monitoring officer, Clive Pinney, for a decision.

Cllr Thomas explained that that the reason to call-in the decision was that: “the decision was contrary to the policy framework, that the cabinet had not followed proper procedures, and that cabinet did not follow the legal obligations regarding regulations and statutory guidance governing the council’s actions.”

A Powys council spokesman said: “The council can confirm that the call-in regarding Ysgol Calon Cymru has been rejected as it did not meet the conditions outlined as part of the call-in procedure rules within the council’s constitution.

“The council’s strategic outline case is currently being considered by the Welsh Government and anticipate a decision within the next few weeks.”

The proposal is supposed to take place in phases, with the Welsh-medium aspect at Builth Wells to start in September 2027, while constructing a new school building in Llandrindod Wells is expected to happen by September 2029 at the earliest.

This means that an English stream of pupils will still be taught at Builth Wells until the new build is completed.

Concerns about this part of the proposal and that the new building at the Llandrindod campus should come first before the school is spilt and whether the Welsh Government will fund the scheme have been aired.

Former council leader and now education portfolio holder Cllr James Gibson-Watt  persuaded his cabinet colleagues that the: “risks are understood, and the mechanism by which they can be managed is clear,” and he was “comfortable” to proceed on that basis.