MP calls for public inquiry into why a school was ‘needlessly demolished’

Martin Shipton

An MP has called for a public inquiry into an extraordinary set of circumstances in which a hillside was wrongly classified as dangerous and the school below needlessly demolished leading to pupils spending six years being taught in Portakabins.

David Chadwick, the Welsh Liberal Democrat MP for Brecon, Radnor and Cwm Tawe, says the local community has been treated appallingly over the closure and demolition of Godre’r Graig Primary School near Ystalyfera.

The school was built in 1908 from local stone and stood for over a century beneath a wooded hillside. When consultants warned of a possible spoil-tip failure in July 2019, Neath Port Talbot council closed the school overnight. Children were relocated to emergency Portakabins and the historic building was fenced off and left silent.

Monitoring

The following year saw boreholes, monitoring and endless expense. No movement in the hillside was found. By late 2020 the council announced a new valley-wide ‘superschool’ plan, winning £14.76m in Welsh Government funding. Parents opposed it, fearing the old school would never reopen.

In 2021 the Welsh Government’s new coal-tip mapping quietly listed the hillside as a Category D non-coal tip. Meanwhile, the superschool plan drew criticism over its Welsh Language Impact Assessment (WLIA). Campaigners gained permission for a judicial review.

By mid-2022, the court hearing revealed procedural flaws. That August, the hillside was reclassified as a coal tip. In October the High Court ruled against the council, yet by December it voted to demolish the old school anyway. A fresh consultation opened as the Welsh Government reminded the council that funding remained conditional on the WLIA.

Local engineers then concluded that the supposed risk-zone was 10 times larger than the real tip. Their findings questioned the science behind the closure.

The original consultants defended their advice, but the evidence of movement was absent. Governors of the school and residents turned to the Ombudsman, beginning a new fight for accountability.

In April 2024 the school was demolished. Its rubble was used to form a bund on the playing field below. The structure was built as a precaution but not to full specification, and it had no direct link to the hillside tip. By spring, the village was left with a mound of crushed stone and no school.

By 2025 the children were still in temporary cabins, the bund remained unlandscaped, and no funding had been secured for a replacement school.

Uncertainty

Mr Chadwick has now written to the Welsh Government’s Cabinet Secretary for Education, Lynne Neagle, to express his deep concern that the issue remains unresolved and that residents in Godre’r Graig continue to face uncertainty about the future of their children’s education.

The MP recently visited Godre’r Graig Primary School and praised the dedication and commitment of the headteacher and staff, who have continued to provide an excellent standard of education despite working from temporary accommodation. However, he warned that the situation had now reached a critical point, with growing public distrust and no clear plan in place to return the school to its village.

In his letter calling for a public inquiry, Mr Chadwick highlighted that it was becoming increasingly clear that there is no concrete plan for the school’s return and raised concerns that perhaps there never was one. He argued that this was unacceptable and contrary to the fundamental principle that children should be educated in line with their parents’ preferences.

Local residents have long questioned the handling of the school’s move to temporary Portakabins and the demolition of the original building. Many feel they have not been told the full truth by public authorities. The decision by the Welsh Government not to provide funding for a new school building has only heightened those suspicions.

Public trust

Mr Chadwick said that a public inquiry was now essential to establish the facts, provide accountability, and restore public trust.

He added that such an inquiry would not only allow the community to understand what went wrong but would also serve as a vital learning opportunity to prevent similar failures in the future.

The MP concluded that the situation had persisted for far too long and that the families and children of Godre’r Graig deserved clear answers and a fair resolution.

Mr Chadwick said: “It is deeply troubling that this situation remains unresolved. The people of Godre’r Graig have been left without clarity or confidence in the decisions made on their behalf.

“Our children deserve better, and my constituents deserve honesty and accountability. A full public inquiry is now the only way to deliver that.

“This community has waited too long for answers. It’s time for transparency, justice, and a plan for the future of Godre’r Graig Primary School. That’s why I am now calling for a full public inquiry into what has happened here.”

A spokesperson for Neath Port Talbot council said: “The council is not issuing a statement on the call for a public inquiry but reiterates it is continuing to seek the best solution for pupils of Godre’r Graig Primary School, with representatives of the council’s education department having been in discussions with the Welsh Government and this process is ongoing.”