New school anger as budget spirals by £2.7m
The move comes from Cllr Graham Breeze, Powys County Councillor for Welshpool Llanerchydol Ward, who is unhappy at the response received to a series of questions he posed to Cllr Peter Roberts, the Cabinet Member for a Learning Powys.
Ysgol Gymraeg y Trallwng is being re-sited from its current home at Ardwyn School to a purpose-built new premises on the site of the former Ysgol Maesydre.
The awkward look of the new building has also drawn criticism from residents.
The development was delayed by a last-minute CADW listing of the Ysgol Maesydre building which was scheduled for demolition. Further delays followed when Dawnus, the original developers, collapsed and when objections were made to the repositioning of a footpath.
And, most recently, the Cabinet Member says contractors have been hit by delays in obtaining building materials – pushing deadlines back even further.
Cllr Breeze said: “Original costs approved in June 2018 were £6,393,539. These increased to £8,888,356 in January 2021 and now Cllr Roberts tells us that the costs have risen again to £9,110,566. That’s £2,717,027 extra by my calculations.
“The Cabinet Member has responded and gives excuses for the delays and costs and says a thorough review of every project is carried out – but that is not enough in this case.
“The town’s Welsh learners and the teaching staff do not deserve to have suffered in a premises which is barely fit for purpose and the council tax payers in Powys need to know why they are having to pay so much extra.
“While the Dawnus collapse could not have been foreseen, we need to know why the CADW listing possibility wasn’t identified by Powys County Council at planning stage and why the issue of the footpath move was not picked up earlier,” said Cllr Breeze.
“We also need to know if clauses are in place for contractors failing to reach deadlines.
“I will be asking for a full and transparent review of the project to go before the Education Scrutiny Committee as soon as possible. There are questions that need answering.”
Last month, the council told us that ‘supply issues’ were to blame for the delay.
Below are the questions (from Cllr Breeze) and answers from Cllr Roberts.
(I ask that) The Cabinet Member provides figures at the earliest possible time in the new year for:
Q. What the total cost of the project will now be?
A. The total funding envelope for the project is £9.1m. The latest estimated cost projections (Nov 2022) show that there is circa £179k underspend on the project. However, as stated previously, costs are currently being reviewed with the contractor, and we will be in a better position to understand final estimated costs once this review has been completed.
Q. What was the original projected cost prior to the last-minute listing of the for Ysgol Maesydre building.
A. See attached Cabinet report January 2021 – this project has been highly complex and this Cabinet report provides the chronology and cost information.
Q. What has been the total cost of maintaining the former Ardwyn School site during the period of ongoing delays.
A. As stated previously, the construction was originally programmed to be finished in late November, with pupils remaining on the current site until the new school opened to pupils after Christmas, therefore there has been no additional maintenance costs to date. There was an issue with the boiler at the school in December and repairs were undertaken and completed before Christmas, so the cost of the work (circa £1,465.35) is not deemed as additional due to the delays in the new build. There are no further works outstanding on this issue. It is currently unknown if there will be any additional repairs and maintenance costs over the next term, however, the statutory compliance testing and remedial works will continue until the building is handed over.
Q. The Cabinet Member gives an assurance that once the handover is complete he will ensure that the council carries out a full and thorough investigation into the handling of the entire Ysgol Gymraeg y Trallwng project. And that he will use the findings of such an investigation to protect the Powys rate payers from the costs of any further overspends on future projects.
A. As part of every school capital project, a thorough review is carried out after completion and project closure reports are submitted to Welsh Government. We will continue with this approach with the Ysgol Gymraeg y Trallwng project.
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