Petitions add pressure on council over school closure plans

Alec Doyle, Local Democracy Reporter

Petitions from parents, pupils and staff opposed to plans to close two primary schools will be handed over to the council this week.

The documents – which will be handed to the Flintshire County Council during Wednesday’s meeting of full council – support the arguments against both the proposed merger of Saltney Ferry Community Primary School with Saltney Wood Memorial Primary School and the closure of St David’s Catholic Primary School in Mold, part of a larger Catholic super-school proposal.

Both petitions will be added to the formal consultations surrounding the two proposals, which are currently open for public feedback on the council website.

Flintshire Council’s Education Department argues that both proposals are necessary to fairly and efficiently distribute funding amid falling pupil numbers and provide modern, high-quality learning environments for children.

The Saltney Ferry plans propose the closure of Saltney Ferry and the transfer of pupils to a new £12m school built on the site of Saltney Wood Memorial.

The Catholic super-school plans would see St David’s close alongside St Anthony’s Primary School in Saltney, St Mary’s in Flint and St Richard Gwyn Catholic High School.

To replace them Flintshire County Council and the Diocese of Wrexham plan to build a £55m, 3-18 school in Flint – part-funded by £8.325m of Flintshire Council borrowing – which will push the total cost up to an estimated £77m once the loan is repaid.

Councillors opposed to the plans have also lodged a number of notices of motion to be debated.

The first of these, from Liberal Democrat group leader Cllr Andrew Parkhurst, claims that the authority’s relaunch of the unaltered Catholic super-school plan following the Senedd election has damaged public confidence in the handling of the proposal and calls for an immediate halt to the consultation to allow a full review of the plans.

A second notice of motion, proposed by his Lib Dem colleague Cllr David Coggins Cogan, will demand a full report into the legal and ethical basis for the authority and Welsh Government – which will fund 85% of the new school – paying 100% of the construction costs before handing the new school building over to the Diocese of Wrexham who will own the asset once completed.

It is an issue highlighted by Wales Humanists, a charity that a promotes the idea of a secular state.

‘These proposals highlight the need for Flintshire – and all areas of Wales – to review whether its school provision genuinely reflects the communities it serves today,” said Wales Humanists Policy and Campaigns Manager Kathy Riddick.

“Faith schools are overwhelmingly state-funded, yet many retain the right to discriminate in admissions, employment and governance on religious grounds.

“In modern Wales, where beliefs are increasingly diverse and large numbers of people have no religion, councils should prioritise inclusive local schools open equally to all children and staff, regardless of background or belief.”

Flintshire County Council will meet to discuss these matters on Wednesday, July 1.