Bridgend Council’s Cabinet is set to approve a public consultation on a proposal to expand Coety Primary School (pdf).
The school serves Parc Derwen and Coity village itself and there have long been concerns about a shortage of places.
Bridgend Council’s planning guidance was revised in 2019 after it was proven that new developments were boosting school pupil numbers at a faster-than-expected rate.
The proposal will turn the school into a 2.5-form-entry school (525 places) – an increase of more than 100 places – and also provide an 88-place nursery. This will be achieved via a two-story, four-classroom extension.
Funding for the extension worth £1.65million has been included in a recently revised capital programme, though the council are also awaiting Section 106 contributions worth £300,000 from developers.
The current timetable is for the extension to be finished by the start of the spring term (January) 2025.
Planning guidance for school places “needs to be fit for purpose”
The matter of oversubscription at Coety Primary and Bryntirion Comprehensive was raised in the Senedd last week – both schools having been awarded extra capital funding for additional classrooms by the council.
Sarah Murphy MS (Lab, Bridgend) told the Education Minister there was a clear gap between the number of people who moved to Parc Derwen and the number of school places available at Coety Primary. While it was “tricky to predict” how many school places are needed, what more could be done to allow flexibility when large new housing developments are proposed?
Altaf Hussain MS (Con, South Wales West) asked what the Welsh Government were doing to ensure planning guidance on school places was fit for purpose?
Education Minister, Jeremy Miles (Lab, Neath), said local authorities are required to plan for school places over 15 years. However, it would be inevitable that gaps in school places would arise.
He was “content” planning guidance was sufficient and Bridgend, more generally, has a surplus of school places. There will always be instances where parents can’t send children to their first choice school – but there were no specific concerns about Bridgend.
