Call for investment as ‘buckets catching water’ and ‘plaster crumbling’ at Prestatyn High School

A Denbighshire councillor has claimed that Prestatyn is in desperate need of a new school, with buckets catching water that leaks from the roofs and plaster crumbling off the walls.

Cllr Paul Penlington said that while£107 million had been spent on secondary and primary schools across Denbighshire, Prestatyn High School, which dates back to the 1950s, has been neglected, is overcrowded, and is in desperate need of funding.

He has now submitted a motion to Denbighshire County Council to seek funding from the Welsh Government’s mutual investment model, a scheme whereby local authorities source funding from private investors and pay it back over several decades.

The motion is likely to be discussed at the last full council meeting of the year.

“The bulk of Prestatyn High School buildings were built in 1956 and are now way past repair,” said Cllr Penlington.

“Our children are taught in overcrowded buildings alongside buckets catching water from the leaky roof and plaster crumbling from the walls.

“It is no wonder that Prestatyn High School have some of the highest incidents of bullying and lowest attainment levels in the county when children are crammed into antiquated and inadequate buildings like unwanted sardines.

“I have been campaigning, for many years, for a new high school in Prestatyn and that Denbighshire should seek funding to provide that, which is only fair in line with other towns.”

He added: “Funding was promised some years ago, but that promise was never fulfilled. I call on all other councillors to accept they have failed Prestatyn children and take this final chance in December to pursue funding for a 21st century school our children can thrive in.

“That would probably be the most useful Christmas present they will ever receive and a legacy councillors could be proud of.”