Fresh consultation on new school
ANOTHER consultation is set to be held on where a new Merthyr Tydfil Catholic school should be built.
A special full council meeting tomorrow will consider agreeing to begin a new consultation on two options for the location of the 3-16 school.
One option (option two) is a revised proposal for “The Greenie” playing fields, including extra protected open space for the community on the current Bishop Hedley High School phase two site.
The other option (revised option 3A) is for the current Bishop Hedley sites with secondary sport pitches on one of the Buttercup Fields (plateau two).
In September 2019, following two consultations, the council approved the proposal to close St Aloysius Roman Catholic (RC) Primary, St Illtyd’s RC Primary and St Mary’s RC Primary schools and Bishop Hedley RC High School (BHHS) on the current school sites from September 2022, creating a 3-16 all-through Catholic school with the new building ready by September 2024 or in 2026.
Following a feasibility study on the land south of The Greenie, west of Galon Uchaf Road and the current
Bishop Hedley High School upper and lower sites, two site options were taken out to consultation in November 2020.
In January 2021, following a review of the consultation responses, the land south of The Greenie, west of Galon Uchaf Road, was approved as the preferred site for the new 3-16 VA school and with initial works to look at the site of the school building, traffic management, drop-off/parking and sports facilities.
As a result alternative options for the site of the school were developed for further consultation with one option being for The Greenie (option two) and the other for the Buttercup Fields (option one).
A consultation took place between April and May and on May 26, after considering the consultation results, cabinet approved that the proposals to build the new 3-16 School on The Greenie should move on to the next stage of development.
But in July, in recognition of the public response expressed on social media that a large number of residents were not aware of the public consultation, cabinet approved that an extended consultation be done from Thursday, July 15 to Monday, September 6 to allow a further opportunity for people, including all households in the Penydarren, Galon Uchaf and Gurnos wards, to participate in the consultation. This was further extended to September 20.
An appraisal was then done of the proposals for The Greenie (known as option two) and the current Bishop
Hedley sites (revised option 3A) along with the Buttercup Fields proposal (option one).
A council report said there were significant additional costs to deliver both remaining options over and above the approved project budget of £28.4m.
The Greenie proposal is estimated to be completed by September 2024 but the Bishop Hedley one has a projected end date of March to May 2026. Project costs are funded 85% by Welsh Government grant and 15% by local authority match funding, except for costs for facilities outside of the school boundary which are funded 100% by the council, including community facilities and highways works.
If agreed, a consultation would take place in January and February 2022, with a decision due to be made on the location of the new school in March or June of next year.