A village primary school campus near Brecon with just 15 pupils attending lessons is a step closer to being closed at the end of August.

At a meeting of Powys County Council’s Liberal Democrat/Labour Cabinet yesterday (February 24), senior councillors received the consultation report on the proposal to close the Cradoc campus of Ysgol Golwg Pen y Fan.

The consultation took place between November 6 and December 18 last year, which received 15 responses.

The report shows that since merging with Mount Street Infants and Junior School in Brecon to form Ysgol Golwg Pen y Fan in September 2024, Cradoc has lost dozens of pupils.

In September 2024, Cradoc had 71 pupils and it now has just 15.

Education portfolio holder, Cllr James Gibson-Watt (Liberal Democrat – Glasbury) said: “Ysgol Golwg Pen y Fan has been run as a three-sited school from September 2024, with the intention being to move to a new school site in Brecon when it’s built.”

It had been expected that the new school would have been built this year.

Cllr Gibson-Watt continued: “There have been delays in the progress of that project, and it’s now anticipated that that new build will not be ready until 2027/2028.

“We are seeing declining pupil numbers, and there are currently just 15 at the campus.

“There is always an impact on the community, the pupils and their families when you close a school. It’s never an easy decision for council to do, and people will feel aggrieved by it.”

The council could save £262,000 by closing the school.

Cllr Gibson-Watt said: “As far as I’m concerned, that’s not the principal reason for doing this.”

He stressed that the decision was being made to improve the outcomes for all pupils at the school and that running the school off three sites is: “extremely stressful and difficult to do.”

As part of the consultation, Cradoc’s local county councillor Cllr Iain McIntosh (Reform UK – Yscir with Honddu Isaf and Llanddew) had objected to the proposal and stated that three separate school capacity figures – 175, 158 – had been used for Cradoc over the years, with the latest figure being 149.

Cllr Gibson-Watt said: “While he has come up with reasons to pause the closure, mainly around disagreements about campus capacity, interesting as those points are, they don’t alter the bald facts of the case that we just have 15 on one campus of a school with 229 pupils.

“The case is clear.”

Cabinet member for Adult Services Cllr Peter Roberts (Liberal Democrat – Llandrindod North) pointed out for “context” that similarly sized small primary schools, such as Llangedwyn in the north of the county, had been closed.

Cllr Roberts said: “The suggestions around the capacity numbers are just muddying the waters, as even with the lowest figure being quoted, you’re looking at over 80 per cent spare capacity.”

Cabinet voted unanimously to continue the process.

The next stage will see a legal period for objections take place, and a further report to be received by the cabinet later this year for a final decision.