‘Threshold of an exciting era for schools’

It has been a huge week at County Hall with the major announcement of a new era of local education that will cost over £170 million, but see a number of schools close in a bid to modernise the system. Here, Cllr Rosemarie Harris, the Leader of Powys County Council, shares her views on the past few momentous days.

I hope residents have had a break this summer despite the continuing Coronavirus pandemic which has dominated our lives since early Spring. I am sure that we had all hoped we would be nearing the end of COVID-19 but the virus is still with us and we have to manage our lives carefully.

In recent weeks we have seen a steady increase in cases across the country with particular hot-spots in neighbouring counties with renewed restrictions and local lockdowns.

In Powys we have had some incidents and smaller clusters, something that should act as a warning to all that the virus has not gone away and that we all need to be as vigilant now as we were in the first few weeks of the global outbreak.

Earlier this month the First Minister made changes to the rules on meeting people indoors in Wales to help prevent the spread of coronavirus after new cases being reported linked to socialising.  The changes see a new limit of six people being allowed to meet indoors at any one time. All six must belong to the same extended household group. This does not include children under 11. Wearing face masks in shops and other indoor public spaces is also now compulsory.

I am urging Powys residents and those visiting our county to follow the rules and do everything they can to keep Powys safe and prevent a rise in coronavirus cases.

Members of the community have personal responsibility in controlling the spread of the virus. The situation can change very quickly. A rise in cases of the coronavirus could see local measures being put into place. By observing the latest Welsh Government rules, we can keep Powys safe and we must all play our part.

The county council is still operating in business-critical mode but that does not mean major developments in service delivery investment is being delayed.

This week we have announced the most ambitious transformation plans of the county’s education infrastructure ever, with investment plans of more than £170m for schools across the county in the coming decade.

Under the plans that the cabinet will be considering next Tuesday (September 29) we could see brand new facilities across the county as well as a proposal to consult on establishing a new all-age school. However, several small schools could close as part of the transforming education proposals.

We are on the threshold of an exciting era for our schools but experience has taught us that it will not be an easy or quick process.

Providing high-quality teaching and learning environments is one of the priorities of our Vision 2025 and our Strategy for Transforming Education in Powys will help us meet these aims. We want to provide the best facilities for our learners, their families and the wider community and our plans are designed to do just that.

We are proposing major investment for a state-of-the-art learning and leisure community campus for Machynlleth’s Ysgol Bro Hyddgen and new and remodelled facilities for Ysgol Calon Cymru.

We are proposing a new all-age school in Llanfair Caereinion and a major reorganisation of schools in the Llanfyllin catchment which could see a new all-age community campus for Ysgol Llanfyllin and a new 360-pupil dual-stream area school as well as investment in Llanrhaeadr ym Mochnant Primary School and Llansanffraid Church in Wales Primary School.

We also have plans for a new primary school in Brecon along with new leisure facilities as well as a new dual-stream primary school in Sennybridge.

The cabinet will be asked to support our ambitious plans and if successful we will be submitting our cases to Welsh Government for financial support.

I am delighted that despite COVID-19 and the terrible impact it has had on our country that we are still able to look to the future and consider ambitious plans for the benefit of future generations.

Councillor Rosemarie Harris

Leader Powys County Council