Bird’s eye view of new school

Welshpool’s new multi-million-pound school is taking shape on the former Salop Road sports fields, with new photos released last night showing its progress.

The facility will centralise English-speaking education for up to 360 children at one location as opposed to the four schools that have been servicing the town for a number of years.

They will all close their doors at the end of this school year with children starting their education at the new Salop Road facility next September. A Welsh-speaking school will be built at Maes-y-dre.

Before the build began, the project was hit by an extra bill of £3.8 million, because of last-minute listed building status on Maes-y-dre and problems with the ground at the Salop Road site. It means the overall cost could be close to £17 million.

While the need for a modern facility was widely recognised, it has not gone without controversy with the loss of sports facilities being felt by the town’s junior clubs.

Powys has promised to provide alternatives and is redeveloping its facilities at the high school at a cost of £800,000, but in the meantime some football age groups have folded, and others are playing matches out of town.

But as the photographs that were published on the ‘Powys School Plans’ Facebook page show, there is an allowance for a ‘green’ space at the back of the school, but its size may raise a few eye brows among campaigners who claim they have been listened to.