School plan submitted to council planners
PROPOSALS for a new £5m primary school have been formally presented to council planners.
In September members of Anglesey Council’s Executive gave the green light to plans to replace Ysgol Gymuned Bodorgan, Ysgol Niwbwrch, Ysgol Dwyran and Ysgol Llangaffo with a new £5m area school in Newborough.
The bid has now been presented to council planners who will now make a final decision on whether the proposed facility at Morawelon, near the centre of the village, should be built.
Under the move a single-storey school, to be known as ‘ Ysgol Bro Aberffraw’, would accommodate 180 pupils with 25 nursery places.
A statutory notice on the schools’ closure was issued in June 2016 with only one objection relating to concerns that the new school would be voluntarily controlled by the Church in Wales.
This was despite the concerns of local councillor Ann Griffith, who said at the time that many parents were “unhappy and disappointed” at the loss of their small village schools.
But almost a year on, she told the Mail: “I think that as time has gone on, most parents have come to accept the inevitable and appreciate the top of the range, modern facilities the new school will have. The biggest objection I’m aware of at the moment is the name of the school, with some questioning if ‘ Ysgol Bro Aberffraw’ a actually encompasses the w whole catchment area.
“Personally I would like to s see parents and pupils being given the choice when it’s time to open.”
But in its statement accompanying the planning bid, the authority’s education department wrote: “During the site selection process, many sites were looked at in the area.
“A total of nine different sites were identified by the council’s property officers and by the project stake- holder group which would be sufficiently large for the proposed new school and be within the catchment area of the four current primary schools.”
Designs include a main hall, nursery and reception classroom and five other classrooms for general use. They also include a football pitch, outdoor play area, garden and woodland area and enough parking spots for 87 cars.
According to the council, the blueprint is partially based on the historic Llys Rhosyr, which stands on the outskirts of the village.
A decision is expected to be made during the next meeting of Anglesey Council’s Planning Committee on June 14.