Fury as council pushes ahead with controversial north Wales school plans

Alec Doyle – Local democracy reporter

Senedd members and councillors have expressed fury after a council approved the next stage of consultation into two controversial school modernisation plans in north Wales.

In a special meeting of Flintshire County Council’s Cabinet, councillors agreed to move both the Flintshire Catholic super-school proposals and the Saltney primary school merger plans into a formal 28-day objection period.

That is the final stage where the public can make their views known before a final decision is made on the plans.

The super-school plans intend to build a £55 million 3-18 Catholic super-school in Flint. To do that it intends to close St David’s Catholic Primary School in Mold, St Anthony’s in Saltney, St Mary’s in Flint and St Richard Gwyn Catholic High School – citing vacant places caused by falling pupil and baptism numbers.

Falling pupil numbers has also prompted pthe proposals to merge Saltney Ferry and Saltney Wood Memorial Primary Schools, with Saltney Ferry slated for closure.

Both schemes have been opposed by more than 90% of consultation respondents – including parents – but this week both consultations were moved into the objection period prompting outrage from opponents.

Sam Rowlands, Member of the Senedd for Fflint Wrecsam, says he was ‘furious’.

“This decision is appalling,” he said. “There have been two consultations on this and I just cannot believe that despite overwhelming public opposition to these proposals councillors still are not listening.

“The public consultations carried out on these proposals showed that more than 90% of respondents were against the plans.

“Councils should not be imposing school closures on communities who do not want them. Instead, closures should only be considered where there’s significant evidence, considerable public support and action to mitigate impacts on those communities.

“”Quite frankly I find it astonishing to see councillors, who are supposed to represent their residents, totally ignoring the public’s views on this matter.

“I remain vehemently against these plans and will back campaigners who are determined to keep on fighting.

“I am a firm believer in keeping schools local and I do not think merging four local schools into one super-school is the right way forward. St Anthony’s, for example, has been part of the Saltney community for over 150 years and provides education grounded in Christian values.

“I also share the concern of parents over the proposed closure of both Saltney Ferry and Saltney Wood Memorial Primary School to amalgamate both schools.

“It is absolutely astonishing to see the council totally ignoring the public’s views on these matters.”

Meanwhile Flintshire Liberal Democrats, which have long opposed the Catholic super-school plans, condemned the Cabinet for agreeing to press ahead with the controversial programme despite the threat of legal action and overwhelming public opposition.

“Cabinet agreed to publish the statutory notice and move to the 28-day objection period without first hearing legal advice on the challenge brought by lawyers acting for the governing body of one of the affected schools,” said Liberal Democrat Group Deputy Leader Cllr David Coggins-Cogan. “A stunning placement of the cart before the horse.”

During their meeting to move the proposals into the objection phase, Flintshire County Council were made aware of a legal challenge to the process by Addleshaw Goddard – a legal firm representing the St David’s Action Group.

Chief Officer (Governance) Gareth Owens did explain in the meeting that all allegations were strongly refuted by the authority before votes were cast. Later in a private session of council he is understood to have explained the council’s legal arguments in greater detail to members.

Cllr Andrew Parkhurst, Leader of the Liberal Democrat Group, said: “This should have been one of the most searching decisions this Cabinet has faced.  Instead, it appeared that members were working from a pre-prepared script, with soft questions and very little serious challenge.

“Not one Cabinet member asked the obvious question: why is the Diocese of Wrexham contributing nothing towards the cost of this new school when it contributed £1.7 million towards a new Catholic primary school in Wrexham and £1.1 million towards a similar school in Bangor?

“Flintshire taxpayers are being asked to shoulder five decades of debt while young children are expected to criss-cross the county to get to school.

“On the educational case, Estyn said the council’s consultation documents did not evaluate well enough the impact of these changes on pupils’ standards.

“The council talks about reducing its carbon footprint while proposing to close local schools and put more children onto buses. None of this received the serious challenge it deserved.”

Cllr Coggins-Cogan also expressed concern that the strength of public opposition seemingly had no impact on the process.

“Around 96% of consultation respondents rejected the central amalgamation proposal, yet the Labour-Independent coalition continues to plough ahead,” he said.

“People are entitled to ask a very simple question: what, exactly, would residents ever have to say for this Cabinet actually to listen?”

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