Parents accuse council of ‘scaremongering’ over £55m Catholic super-school plans

Alec Doyle, Local Democracy Reporter

Parents fighting to keep their school open have accused the council of “scaremongering” to justify plans for a proposed £55m Catholic super-school.

Members of St David’s Action Group say recent comments from Cabinet Member for Education, Welsh Language, Culture and Leisure Cllr Mared Eastwood that Voluntary Aided schools in Flintshire are ‘hanging on by a thread’ amount to scare tactics as the authority attempts to gain public support for the plans.

The group met with Cllr Eastwood and Flintshire County Council Leader Cllr Dave Hughes earlier this week to ask them directly about the plans – but said they came away ‘with more questions than when we arrived’.

The plans – to close Catholic Primary schools St David’s in Mold, St Anthony’s in Saltney and St Mary’s in Flint – plus St Richard Gwyn High School in Flint and replace them with a 3-18 Catholic super-school have been controversial since the start.

During the previous consultation there were a record number of respondents with 96% against the plans before a legal challenge forced the process to re-start at the end of May.

But the action group says that the council’s figures don’t add up, with errors relating to the maintenance costs at St David’s and the estimated annual repayments of Flintshire County Council’s super school loan eclipsing the true cost of school building repairs.

“Flintshire County Council has quoted £178,000 in outstanding repairs and maintenance for St David’s,” said the group. “However the genuine amount is approximately £89,000 – and £34,000 of that is for redecoration, not essential structural work.

“This raises serious questions about the accuracy of the information being relied upon by the Cabinet Member for Education – or the way that information is being presented to the public.

“Her recent description of VA schools as ‘hanging by a thread’ is a crude attempt to manufacture a sense of crisis and present the super-school as inevitable. In fact it is a political choice – and one that must be justified using accurate, current and transparent evidence.”

Borrowing costs

The group also highlighted the impact of the estimated borrowing costs for the super-school project.

With the Diocese of Wrexham making no contribution to the scheme, Flintshire County Council plans to borrow £8.3 million – repaid over 50 years at an estimated cost of £683,000 per year.

“The financial case becomes even more indefensible when the proposed superschool’s borrowing costs are examined,” said the group. “The combined repair and maintenance liability reported for St Richard Gwyn and St Mary’s is approximately £1.2 million. Yet the reported repayment cost of the proposed borrowing is approximately £31.9m over 50 years – £638,000 per year.

“Less than two years of those interest payments would cover the entire maintenance bill.

“How can the council portray a £1.2 million maintenance liability as evidence existing schools are unaffordable while proposing to commit taxpayers to nearly £32 million in interest? That is not financial prudence, it is an attempt to exaggerate the cost of retaining the existing schools while minimising the extraordinary long-term cost of replacing them.

“Before making any further statements, Councillor Eastwood and Flintshire County Council must publish a complete, independently verifiable financial comparison of VA schools maintenance costs.

“The council must stop attempting to frighten the public and start answering the serious questions it has repeatedly failed to address.”

New proposals questioned

When St David’s Action Group met with Cllr Eastwood and Cllr Hughes earlier this week to raise their concerns, they asked about the flaws that forced the pausing of the original consultation and what has changed in the new proposals.

But having been invited by the council, when they arrived they were told a number of officers who could answer key questions were on annual leave.

“The purpose of the meeting was supposedly to answer the questions previously raised by residents,” said the group’s spokesperson. “Astonishingly, we were informed that many of those answers could not be provided because the council officers responsible for preparing them were on annual leave.

“If the people capable of answering residents’ questions were unavailable, why was the meeting arranged at all? Residents had already waited weeks after their written questions had gone unanswered. Instead of providing clarity, the meeting simply delivered more delay.

“Council representatives did explain a second consultation had been launched because aspects of the original one ‘were not right’, they had run out of time before the pre-election period and because legal correspondence had been received.

“If the original consultation was flawed enough to require a second consultation, the public deserves a full explanation of what those flaws were and why they occurred.

“When we asked what had actually changed in the plan, the only example provided was an amendment to the transport policy. No meaningful changes could be identified or explained. This raises the question of whether this is genuinely a fresh consultation or simply another attempt to reach the same predetermined outcome.”

Response

In response to St David’s Action Group Claire Homard, Flinthsire County Council’s Chief Officer for Education and Youth, said: “The recent meeting undertaken with the Leader of the Council and the Cabinet Member for Education, Welsh Language, Culture and

Leisure was arranged to enable them to hear directly from the St David’s school community and discuss their concerns regarding the school reorganisation proposal.

“It would be inappropriate to comment on individual interpretations of discussions that took place during the meeting.

“The council remains satisfied that the previous consultation process was conducted in line with relevant requirements.

“The previous consultation was discontinued in March 2026 due to timescale constraints required by the School Organisation Code. Feedback through the first consultation process has informed the second consultation document.

“It is inaccurate to present speculative projections as confirmed project costs. Funding arrangements for school modernisation projects are subject to regular review, detailed financial assessment, governance and scrutiny.

“Any borrowing requirements and associated revenue implications would form part of the Council’s financial planning process and be considered through the appropriate approval mechanisms.

“Flintshire County Council remains committed to engaging with all stakeholders regarding proposals affecting school provision and welcomes ongoing dialogue with parents, governors, staff and the wider community.”

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