Senior councillors in Powys are expected to approve £1.75 million of capital funding to improve security and safeguarding measures at school sites across the county.
The proposed investment would fund work during 2025/26, including improvements to fencing, CCTV, lighting, gates, and car park access.
A report recommending the preferred option will go before Powys County Council’s Liberal Democrat/Labour cabinet, following a review of four business cases by the authority’s capital oversight board in April.
Other options considered included a £2.1 million package spread over two years, with an additional £350,000 set aside for further works beyond March 2027.
The funding decision comes as the council seeks to respond to a critical inspection report into its education department by Estyn.
The report said: “To address school site security and safeguarding issues, there a number of projects which are ongoing, or which are planned over the following two financial years 2025/26 and 2026/27.
“The are 29 capital improvement projects and five minor works for site safeguarding across school sites.”
The report explains that routine school maintenance work is funded through the council’s schools major improvement programme.
This has an annual allocation of £2.5 million up to April 2028.
The report said: “This allocation is already oversubscribed, with many schemes in progress, so it is not possible to fund these works from this allocation.”
The council has “estimated” that it could receive £400,000 in grants from the Welsh Government – which leaves £1.35 million for the council to find.
They intend doing this by using £295,000 from the allocation of £350,000 agreed in this year’s budget in February to go to the major improvements programme, with the remaining £55,000 to pay for borrowing £1 million to fund the work.
The borrowing would be paid back over a 35-year period.
At a special council meeting back in April to outline the council’s response to the damning Estyn inspection, council leader Cllr Jake Berriman (Liberal Democrat) in his previous cabinet role told councillors that £1.6 million would be needed to fund this work.
The report explains that the difference between his announcement of £1.6 million and the £1.75 million is that £100,000 would be used as a “contingency” and held back to pay for unforeseen or new work that crops up.
If the council don’t receive £400,000 in grant funding, they will need to find it from somewhere else.
Director or corporate services and s151 officer, Jane Thomas said: “The site security work is a priority for the council.
“By re prioritising and utilising existing funding streams, we ensure that this work can be accommodated without adding additional financial pressure to the council’s budget for 2025-26.
“On this basis, the recommendation can be supported.”
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