Venue: Council Chamber - County Hall, Llandrindod Wells, Powys
Contact: Stephen Boyd 01597 826374
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Apologies To receive apologies for absence. Minutes: Absence for absence were received from County Councillor S Hayes and R Powell who were on other Council business. |
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Declarations of Interest To receive any declarations of interest from Members relating to items to be considered on the agenda. Minutes: County Councillor M Alexander declared a personal non prejudicial interest as a governor of Llanerfyl Church in Wales Foundation School appointed by the authority. |
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Banw C.P. School and Llanerfyl C. in W. (Foundation) School PDF 117 KB To consider a report by County Councillor Aled Davies, Portfolio Holder for Finance, Countryside and Finance. Additional documents:
Minutes: County Councillor Myfanwy Alexander having declared a personal interest as a local authority appointed governor of Llanerfyl Church in Wales Foundation School advised that she would be acting as local Member and not as a member of the Cabinet for this report.
The Portfolio Holder for Finance, Countryside and Transport presented the report and advised that he was proposing an amendment to the recommendation in the report so the consultation would not be specific on which site the new school would be on. He sought and received confirmation from the members of the Cabinet that they had read correspondence received including updated information on pupil numbers.
County Councillor Alexander spoke of the importance of the decision for securing Welsh language education in the Banw valley as soon as possible noting that 2020 for the establishment of a new school was as late as the community could accept. She referred to emails she had received on potential uses for the sites once a decision had been made. In response to an email from the Chair of Governors of Banw CP School referring to a £1m capital investment referenced by Councillor Alexander, the Portfolio Holder for Finance, Countryside and Transport advised that no decision on capital investment had been taken yet.
County Councillors Bryn Davies and Elwyn Vaughan spoke in favour of widening the scope of the consultation.
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21st C Schools Programme - Welshpool Primary Project and Ysgol Calon Cymru PDF 119 KB To consider a report by County Councillor Myfanwy Alexander, Portfolio Holder for Learning and Welsh Language and County Councillor Aled Davies, Portfolio Holder for Finance, Countryside and Transport. Additional documents:
Minutes: County Councillor Pete Roberts, Chair of the Learning, Skills and Economy Scrutiny Committee and County Councillor John Morris, Chair of the Audit Committee presented the findings of the Scrutiny meeting held on 25th June. Scrutiny had felt that the Cabinet report had been incomplete lacking detailed costings for the Salop Road site.
Scrutiny had concluded that costs for Ysgol Gymraeg y Trallwng had increased due to the listing of Ysgol Maesydre part way through the Welshpool Schools Project but that this could have been foreseen.
Scrutiny had concluded that costs for Welshpool CiW Primary School had increase mainly due to contaminated land issues which could have been foreseen if the contaminated land register had been consulted at the site selection stage and to a lesser extent by changes to the specification requested by the client.
Scrutiny had concluded that the prioritisation of Ysgol Calon Cymru for newly available Band A funds was the best use of these funds because it was the condition of the school had deteriorated to C/D and as a high school the greatest number of pupils would benefit.
The Chair of the Audit Committee raised the capacity of schools noting that the Church in Wales school was being built to accommodate 360 pupils which equated to £28k (plus contingency) per place increasing to £37k (plus contingency) based on present numbers. Ysgol Gymraeg y Trallwng was being built to accommodate 150 pupils which equated to £41k (plus contingency) per place increasing to £77k (plus contingency) based on present numbers.
Scrutiny had made a number of recommendations
1. That the contingency fund for each of the Welshpool Schools be increased to 5%. 2. That the Contaminated Land Register and Radon maps are consulted at the scoping and site selection stage for all projects in which the Council is involved including those on land owned by the authority. 3. That the money released by moving Ysgol Gymraeg y Trallwng to Band B is used to improve the Llandrindod site of Ysgol Calon Cymru and if any funds remain in Band A when this work has been completed then those primary schools with Condition D buildings are prioritised for improvements. 4. That further work is undertaken on pupil numbers, appropriate levels of excess capacity when building new schools, cost per pupil of new builds and impact of new schools on surrounding schools to inform the Schools Transformation programme.
The Leader and Portfolio Holder thanked Scrutiny for their work on this project. It was noted that there was already just under 4% contingency for the project so an additional 1% would bring the total budget for the project to £16,972,972. The Portfolio Holder for Learning and Welsh Education accepted the recommendation that the contaminated land register and radon maps be consulted at the scoping and site selection stage but advised that the issue of pupil numbers had been fully explored some years ago and she did not intend going over that issue again.
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