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Question from: County Councillor Gareth Ratcliffe Subject: Gwernyfed High School
Question:
At the Powys County Council Budget Meeting on the 28th February 2020, the Council allocated £6.97m to Gwernyfed High School. Then on September 29th 2020, the then Cabinet revised the 21st Century Schools' Band B strategic outline programme, and then on the 6th October 2020, a press release was issued by the then Portfolio Holder headed: “New campus plans for Gwernyfed High School.”
At the Budget Meeting the following year, the budget showed no line for the Gwernyfed HS development.
Despite numerous reassurances from the Portfolio Holder and Cabinet Members since 2020 to written questions to Council submitted by Cllr William Powell and myself.
Can the Portfolio Holder please confirm that Powys is committed to Gwernyfed High School, and can he furthermore confirm what has happened to the £6.97m that was allocated in the budget in 2020.
Finally, can he please clarify that the funding allocation was not removed to support other schools, given that it was originally provided by Welsh Government to meet the assessed needs of Gwernyfed?
If so, who made that decision and who were the members who supported the proposal and what consultation was undertaken with Local Members?
Minutes: Response by the Cabinet Member:
Following the abandoned proposal to close Gwernyfed High School and Brecon High School in 2016, it was agreed to apply to the Welsh Government for 21st C Schools funding to remodel Gwernyfed. A Full Business Case was submitted and Welsh Government agreed in principle to fund the project, which at the time was estimated to be approximately £7.2m. Welsh Government’s contribution to this was £3.6m.
The remodelling proved to be very challenging due to a number of site constraints and therefore an opportunity was taken to consider whether a new school on a different site would be more beneficial and the revised Strategic Outline Programme for Band B reflected this.
The Welsh Government grant for Gwernyfed was not claimed as the original remodelling scheme did not go ahead. Some funding within the £79m Band A funding envelope was reallocated to Ysgol Gymraeg y Trallwng, a project that was impacted by the collapse of Dawnus and also a Cadw listing, which led to increased costs – this was agreed by the previous Cabinet on the 12th January 2020, the recommendation was put forward by the Portfolio Holder for Education and Property, Cllr Phyl Davies, and seconded by Cllr Myfanwy Alexander, and the decision was unanimous. However, there remains unallocated funding within the Council’s 21st C Schools Programme, but this is unlikely to be sufficient for a remodelled or a new build in Gwernyfed. Whilst the previous Cabinet approved the revised Strategic Outline Programme (SOP) in September 2020, Welsh Government responded to state that they are expecting all local authorities to have completed 85% of their projects before they can accept new SOPs.
I can confirm that I am committed to ensuring that all learners have the best learning opportunities that they are entitled to within the best possible learning environments, and officers are currently evaluating how best to support the school in moving forward.
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