Protestors ramp up campaign against primary school closure

Elgan Hearn, Local Democracy Reporter

Protests have been held in a Welsh town as the campaign to keep a primary school campus open ramps up.

Both Plaid Cymru and Reform UK newly elected Senedd Members for the Blaenau Gwent Caerffili Rhymni constituency turned up to give their support to campaigners who were busy during the protest collecting signatures objecting to the closure of Roseheyworth primary school.

The school campus is under threat of closure at the end of August 2027 as the council looks to cut surplus spaces at Abertillery Learning Community (ALC), an all-through 3–16 school.

This would reduce the all-through school’s capacity from 980 to 770 pupils from September 2027 and address significant budget problems at the school.

Co-chair of Roseheyworth PTFA (Parents Teachers Friends Association) Kirsty Lloyd said: “The protest was great, lots of community interaction and positivity.

“We gathered 201 objections today in one hit so a great few hours.

“The children were fantastic at voicing their opinion today too, waving their placards and encouraging the traffic to beep in support.”

She added that Plaid Cymru MSs Lindsay Whittle and Niamh Salkeld and Reform UK Catherine Cullen MS all attended the protest.

At a special meeting on April 30, Blaenau Gwent County Borough Council’s Labour Cabinet received the consultation report which showed overwhelming opposition to the closure proposal.

Despite this cabinet agreed to go ahead with the next stage of the process which was holding a statutory 28-day period for objections to be received.

This objections period ends tomorrow, Wednesday, June 3.

Report written

Once the objections are received, a report will be written by education chiefs responding to the comments made against the proposal.

The report will provide advice and a recommendation for councillors to proceed with the closure or not.

The information on the council website says the report would go back in front of the Labour cabinet for a decision.

However, at the special meeting where moving to the objections period was agreed, cabinet members stressed that the report would go before all councillors at a full council meeting for a final decision.

The council have explained that ALC, which has a budget of £11.1 million this year, is currently running a projected deficit of £898,000 and that if no action is taken, this deficit is expected to increase to £1.7 million by March 31, 2027.

Over five years, closing Roseheyworth is expected to save around £2.2 million.

Dubbed a “super school,” ALC was created in September 2016.

The school came into being following a merger of Roseheyworth Road, Six Bells Road and Tillery Street primary schools, and Abertillery Secondary School.