Planning submitted for Welsh primary school

A planning application to build the new Welsh-medium primary school on the Maesydre site will be considered next week, the county council has said.

Powys County Council is planning to build a 150-place school with community facilities for Ysgol Gymraeg y Trallwng in Welshpool, a school which was established in 2017 following a re-organisation process. 

The planning application for the build will be considered by the council’s Planning, Taxi Licensing & Rights of Way Committee on December 3.

This will be a flagship project for the council with it being the first 21st Century Schools build in Powys that will see the integration of old and new, the historical and the modern.

This comes after a group of former pupils successfully applied for listing status after the original plan would have seen the current building demolished.

The new school will be built on the former site of Ysgol Maesydre with the now Grade II listed building, currently occupied by Welshpool Church in Wales Primary School, refurbished to accommodate early years and community facilities. A new extension will be built to include a new school hall and classroom bases.

The building will also be the first Passivhaus hybrid project in the UK.

Cllr Phyl Davies, Cabinet Member for Education and Property, said: “These are exciting plans that will provide our learners with 21st Century facilities while preserving and modernising a Grade II listed building for the community of Welshpool to use.

“We have a strategy to transform education in Powys and the Ysgol Gymraeg Y Trallwng new build shows our commitment to deliver this important strategy. When complete, it will provide a learning environment that will allow learners and teaching staff to thrive and reach their potential through the medium of Welsh.”

It is anticipated that construction work will commence following the completion of the new Welshpool Church in Wales Primary School build, which is due to open in the New Year.

The school construction project is being funded by the Welsh Government 21st Century Schools Programme and is 50% funded by Powys County Council. The project is being delivered in partnership with Heart of Wales Property Services.