Legal action forces council to re-start consultation on school closures

A county council has been forced to re-start a statutory consultation process over proposals to close two high schools and build a new £50m campus.

Powys County Council had planned to close Brecon High School and Gwernyfed High School and build the campus at Brecon.

However, a parent at Gwernford High School brought a judicial review challenge.

The claimant’s legal team – Nicholas Bowen QC and David Lemer of Doughty Street Chambers, instructed by Michael Imperato of Watkins & Gunn solicitors – argued that Powys had failed to follow its own transformation policy as well as the Welsh Government’s School Organisation Code.

The local authority was ordered to pay the claimant’s costs.

In a statement on its website Gwernford High School acknowledged that the ruling did not mean the school had been saved.

“It means that Powys are now going to go back and restart the process of determining the future of secondary education in this area. They might still come to the same conclusion,” the school said.

“The good news is that we, the school and the community, will have the opportunity to influence the outcome from the start or at the very least try and get some educational principles into the discussion rather than it being a purely finance driven exercise.”

The statement added: “We are delighted that due process will now be followed, as this is only fair and just. We are saddened that it took a legal judgement to force Powys County Council to do this and disappointed that they did not consider the distress and concern their sudden announcement would cause parents, pupils and staff.”

Cllr Arwel Jones, Cabinet Member for Schools at Powys, said: “We are committed to strengthening secondary school provision and to provide a service that is capable of delivering the full national curriculum but can also meet the challenges of 21st Century education.

“If we are to provide the best possible education for our learners, we must change the way we organise our secondary schools.

“As we progress our secondary school organisation programme, it is essential that we comply fully with Welsh Government and local authority policy and guidelines. We will ensure that this is the case going forward.”

The council said meetings would be held with the governors, heads and local members for both schools in September. They will be invited to meet with Powys’ School Organisation Review Panel and its Director of Education to begin a period of dialogue.

The Portfolio Holder for Education is then expected to present a report to Cabinet during the Autumn term with draft recommendations and a draft impact assessment.

The current timescale, as set out in the strategic outline case approved by the Welsh Government, was that the new campus would be built and opened by September 2018.

Powys said this timescale would now be re-evaluated following the forthcoming discussions with both schools and any subsequent Cabinet decision.