An emotional plea has been made by a councillor not to close a village primary school and take away the “sanctuary” it provides children with additional learning needs (ALN).

At a meeting of Powys County Council’s Learning and Skills scrutiny committee on Thursday, December 11, councillors and independent lay members received the consultation report on the proposal to close 35-pupil Llandinam Primary School.

The consultation took place between September 10 and October 22 and 97 written responses were received.

The report shows a depth of opposition to the closure proposal and also said that a “Save Llandinam CP School” petition had been signed by 745 people.

Many of the comments opposing the closure are due to number of children with ALN that have come to Llandinam – some had been home-schooled after being taken out of other schools in the area.

Education officers said that 17 per cent of pupils in Llandinam have ALN which compares to 13.8 at Llanidloes and 12.2 per cent at Caersws primary schools.

If the school is closed, the council would save around £34,000 a year.

Cllr Lucy Roberts (Llandrinio- Conservative) said: “It’s very clear there’s a huge amount support for the school and the service it provides to those children who found it difficult in larger schools or mainstream education.

“What doesn’t come across in the response is how that will be addressed.”

Head of ALN, Inclusion and Wellbeing, Judith Hickey said: “It’s acknowledged that children are having specialist care in Llandinam. We are confident that those needs will be met at the receiving schools – they have good reputations about dealing with ALN pupils, so we have no concerns”

She added that there was a “specialist” ALN centre in Llanidloes Primary School which also provides outreach help to other schools in the area.

Cllr Geoff Morgan (Ithon Valley – Reform UK) recalled that councillors had voted for Powys to become a “county of sanctuary” in 2023.

Cllr Morgan said: “If we shut the school we save £34,000 a year and Powys has a budget of (over) £300 million – this is 0.01 per cent of the budget.

“That’s what we’re talking about and it’s too much to risk for these kids with ALN. They will end up (educated) back at home and I’m not a fan of that.

“It only takes one going to a specialist school to wipe out that £30,000.

“We recently voted to be a council of sanctuary; a caring council, where is the sanctuary for these kids?

“Their sanctuary is Llandinam school – this is totally opposite to what we want to be doing.

“We’re hearing cosy words about their educational needs being met the same in other schools – but they have already tried that.

“It’s cosy words to satisfy our conscience, it’s a step too far.”

He urged the cabinet member for Education Cllr James Gibson-Watt (Liberal Democrat – Glasbury) who was at the meeting to “do the right thing” and stop the closure process.

The Liberal Democrat/Labour Cabinet will meet on Tuesday to decide the next step in the process.

If they agree to continue to close the school, a further consultation period will be held in the New Year to receive formal objections to the closure.

If agreed the school could officially close at the end of August 2026.