Fiery meeting sees senior councillors vote to close village primary school – decision branded “shameful” by local campaigners
A decision to close a village school has been branded “shameful” and a “whitewash” after a fiery meeting saw senior councillors face criticism for their decision.
The public gallery was packed this morning as residents from the Ceiriog Valley and campaigners turned out to oppose the closure of the 110-year-old Ysgol Pontfadog.
18 pupils currently attend the school, however Wrexham Council say there has been a drop in pupil numbers at both Ysgol Pontfadog and Ysgol Cynddelw schools due to a “growing Welsh medium demand in the valley”.
Following a public consultation and statutory notice period it was recommended that Ysgol Pontfadog was closed, with pupils relocating to the dual-stream site at Ysgol Cynddelw two miles away.
Speaking at this morning’s meeting Lead Member for Education, Cllr Phil Wynn, stated he remains convinced that the closure of Ysgol Pontfadog is “the most appropriate way forward”.
He added: “Ysgol Pontfadog is an extremely small school with records indicating only 15 full-time pupils from September. This is not sustainable.
“The consideration over the proposal to close a school is not easy, it is understandable there are objections.”
Cllr Phil Wynn says he has personally read all objections received and that “the consideration over proposals to close a school are not easy” and that it is “understandable there are objections”
— Wrexham.com (@wrexham) August 7, 2018
However questions were asked from the public about whether Wrexham Council were encouraging children to be taught out of county.
Emma Humphreys, parent, said: “Further up the B4500 at Glyn Ceiriog prospective pupils have been actively dissuaded from entering the English medium classes with such veracity that many Ceiriog Valley residents have decided to educate their children in Shropshire Schools at much cost and inconvenience to themselves.
“The Ceiriog Valley Schools consultation was lacking any impact statement on Special Educational Needs, Welsh language, Transport or Community and the Local Development Plan does not facilitate any areas to build new houses to accommodate young families.
“Are Wrexham County Borough Council deliberately trying to drive young families out of the Ceiriog Valley and save on education costs by encouraging children to go to Shropshire Schools?”
Cllr Wynn said it is not his or the council’s “intention to see any child taught out of county unless there is any reason for that to happen.”
Despite several public questions posed this morning, Cllr Hugh Jones, deputy council leader and chairman of today’s meeting, explained that there would be no supplementary questions allowed.
Leader of the Labour Group, Cllr Dana Davies, warned that a dangerous precedent could be set if members of the public are not allowed to ask supplementary questions. But Cllr Hugh Jones, deputy leader of the council and chairman of this morning’s meeting, arguing that he was conducting the meeting in accordance to the council’s constitution.
Point of order from Cllr Dana Davies who said council is ‘setting a precedent’ by not allowing supplementary questions to the public this morning. Cllr Hugh Jones says he is “conducting meeting in accordance to council constitution”
— Wrexham.com (@wrexham) August 7, 2018
Calls of ‘Gagging’ over lack of supplementary questions – Bold statement from Cllr Malcolm King who says decision form Cllr Hugh Jones to not allow supplementary questions makes him “ashamed to be a county borough councillor”
— Wrexham.com (@wrexham) August 7, 2018
In a rare sight on the executive board, four lead members also posed seemingly pre-arranged questions to Cllr Wynn, covering the number of pupils on roll at Ysgol Pontfadog, what transport arrangements will be put in place and assurances that those moving from the school to Ysgol Cynddelw will not be put at a disadvantage.
Councillors were offered assurances that Ysgol is a dual-stream school and that English and Welsh medium is expected to be taught on an equitable basis.
However Wrexham Council’s consultation was branded as flawed by the campaigners, with more than 800 consultation respondents raising issues with the process.
Cllr Davies questioned where the council stood on a potential judicial review and that she was “surprised” such consideration hadn’t featured in the report.
She added: “There are 882 voices here who believe there are issues with the consultation. I couldn’t imagine that 882 voices are going to quieten.”
Cllr Dana Davies puts some meat on the number-bone: points out there were 1349 objections to the school closure option, compared to 1043 responses to Council’s overall ‘Difficult Decisions’ budget consultation previously.
— Wrexham.com (@wrexham) August 7, 2018
Cllr Davies goes on noting the 882 people who were unhappy with the consultation process, asks if there is any risk of a judicial review. (Thats far more people responding saying they are unhappy, than some consultations get in entirety !)
— Wrexham.com (@wrexham) August 7, 2018
Cllr Jones explained that legal advice had been given to all members of the executive board and that they were confident the consultation “adhered to the school organisation code.”
In a back and forth between Cllr Malcolm King, council officers and Cllr Jones, questions were asked over the process behind today’s meeting and whether lead members still meet prior to the formal proceedings.
He said: “On the face of it this process is about a little school in a little village having to face the reality its numbers have shrunk to being financially unviable.
“What is far more important is at the heart of how we educate children and how we support rural communities and democracy in Wrexham.
“For the avoidance of doubt, I assume there was a pre-meeting and you’d agreed what way to support.”
Cllr King added: “When I was lead member we had a process that precedes meetings where you get together and decide how to vote. In my case you’d be leaning on my to make sure I agreed with the rest of you.”
Cllr King refers to ‘pre meetings’ and decisions made in advance. Cllr Hugh Jones points out Cllr King was on an Exec Board once – and ‘nothing has changed’ since then. Cllr King there suggesting pre-meetings are where decisions are taking, now and back when he was on Exec?! 🤓
— Wrexham.com (@wrexham) August 7, 2018
Democracy in Wrexham historical insight: Cllr King reveals when he was Exec Board member there “was a process that preceded meetings to decide how you are going to vote beforehand’ and ‘leaning on’ took place to whip in votes.
— Wrexham.com (@wrexham) August 7, 2018
Cllr Jones pointed out that nothing had changed since Cllr King had been a lead member and that the ‘cabinet system’ which the council operates by and that other political parties have a similar process ahead of meetings.
Cllr Jones says Cllr King has “obviously not read” the report – Cllr King fires back saying he has & is “not fulfilling your rules you have only just made”. Cllr Jones says he was not ‘belittingly’ Cllr King, Cllr King claims it was & asks about belittingly… gone offtopic here.
— Wrexham.com (@wrexham) August 7, 2018
Several councillors gave impassioned pleas to the board to reconsider the recommendation to close the school, stating that it went against democracy to ignore so many voices who opposed the decision.
Cllr Trevor Bates, who represents the Ceiriog Valley, thanked executive board members for their questions – noting that they highlighted information missing from the consultation documents.
He continued onto say that cynics may think that this meeting was held today in hope many protestors may have gone on holiday. The closure of Ysgol Pontfadog was the only item on the agenda and is one of only three meetings taking place this month.
He said: “At the outset I would like to say it gives me no pleasure to deliver this statement. I understand the financial and workload pressures.
“You can see the exceptionally high number of written objections. On that point can I draw a point to the way pre-prepared letters were negatively presented in the report.
“They are misrepresented to delegitimise opposition to the proposed closure. It suggests a small number of people were asked to sign a letter with little input. The vast majority of template letters were drawn up with face to face meetings with key stakeholders in the village.
“1300 people in the community sought and chose this way. Individuals chose issues they felt most strongly and consulted open.
“Many planning applications are deemed worthy of a site visit. But the huge matter of closing a school not given similar courtesy.”
A challenge over today’s report from Cllr Trevor Bates, who argues that ‘pre-prepared letters’ from residents submitted during consultation process have been ‘negatively presented’.
— Wrexham.com (@wrexham) August 7, 2018
Tying up his speech, Cllr Bates called on lead members to not press ahead with Ysgol Pontfadog closure – stating that doing so will disrespect democracy and the will of the people in the Ceiriog Valley.
Such sentiments were echoed by Cllr Graham Rogers, who said board members were perusing the outcome that they wanted and had ignored the responses from the public consultation.
He added that by “forcing children to speak Welsh now who don’t want to will have an impact on them in their future lives.”
However Cllr Wynn said that “nothing has been spoken today that has made me change my mind that the recommendations I’m making is not the sound one”.
He added: “I have had to reflect on the response to the statutory notice and also the facts and evidence contained within. I want to deliver a sustainable model for all children in the Ceiriog Valley, not just the interests of 18 children who are at Ysgol Pontfadog.
“In my opinion to deliver sustainability for years to come, there is no alternative but to go for option three. I am happy to affirm the recommendations moved.”
In a debate that lasted almost three hours and several impassioned pleas from residents and councillors, executive board members voted unanimously in favour of closing the school from September 2019.
There were cries of ‘shame’, ‘whitewash’ and ‘I’m ashamed to be a resident of Wrexham’ from the public gallery as the eight executive board members present – Cllr Hugh Jones, Cllr Terry Evans, Cllr Joan Lowe, Cllr Bill Baldwin, Cllr Andrew Atkinson, Cllr David Griffiths, Cllr David A Bithell and Cllr Phil Wynn – voted unanimously in favour of ‘discontinuing the school’.
You can view the debate in full on the council’s webcasting system here.
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