New special school could cost more than £100 million

Richard Youle, Local Democracy Reporter

A new special school potentially costing in excess of £100m is one of eight school projects being drawn up for a Welsh city.

The new Ysgol Calon Lan in Swansea would replace two existing special schools, be built in Morriston, have around 350 places, and is currently estimated to cost £102.8m.

The scheme is in the pre-construction phase and the cost is based on a certain level of architectural detail meaning the figure could change as the plans develop further.

The other seven projects in pre-construction include a new Bishop Vaughan Catholic School at the site of the former Daniel James School estimated at £90.6m, a refurbished Gowerton School costing £47.2m, a refurbished Ysgol Bryn Tawe costing £33.2m, and a new £25.5m amalgamated Portmead/Blaenymaes primary.

The estimated cost of the eight projects stands at £304.3m and the expected delivery timeframe is five years.

One of the eight schemes is a £2.6m upgrade at Brynhyfryd primary mainly to enable free school meals to be served to all pupils.

Details of the planned investment were given by the council in a written answer to a question by councillors. It also said school schemes worth £7.9m were presently in the construction phase while projects totalling £55.6m had taken place in the previous six years including a new Ysgol Tirdeunaw, Penlan.

Cllr Stuart Rice asked at a budget meeting this month if the expenditure figures would be achieved as by his calculation only £11m was going to be spent come the end of the current financial year of an £86m school programme since 2023.

Finance director Ben Smith, providing technical advice, said there had been “slippage” – meaning delays – and that projects had been rolled forward. He said it didn’t mean that the money wasn’t going to be spent.

Later in the meeting Cllr Rice, of the Uplands Party, asked if the council would face higher borrowing costs to finance its share of the school work than a few years ago when borrowing rates were lower.

Borrowing

Mr Smith said some borrowing would be required and that it would be more expensive for example if rates were 6% now compared to 1% or 2%. He added he hadn’t been able to borrow more than he had done in 2021 and 2018 due to treasury management rules.

Mr Smith went on to say he would make the appropriate provision if the council was “lucky enough” to have all of its school building programme approved by the Welsh Government, with the latter he said responsible for around three-quarters of the funding. It might mean some elements being “phased back”, he said, as the Welsh Government might not have the money or the council might have to go a bit slower.

The council told the Local Democracy Reporting Service the final Ysgol Calon Lan and Bishop Vaughan Catholic School budgets would, following more design work, be subject to cabinet approval of the construction phase and ministerial approval of the full business case and grant award.

Funding

It added the Welsh Government provided 65% of school-build funding generally. The figure was 75% for pupil referral units and facilities for pupils with additional learning needs and 85% for voluntary-aided and faith schools. Upgrades for universal free school meals in primaries, it said, were funded entirely by Cardiff Bay.

The Welsh Government said the only school project to exceed £100m under the current programme in Wales was the under-construction Fairwater Community Campus, Cardiff.