It is “ridiculous” to compare school transformation proposals for one part of Powys with the rest of the county, a senior councillor has blasted.

At a meeting of the council’s Learning and Skills committee on Thursday, December 11, councillors and independent lay members received a report outlining the consultation response to the proposal to close 35-pupil Llandinam Primary School next year.

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

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

Cllr Angela Davies (Liberal Democrat – Rhayader) said: “All the conversation seems to be that we must save this school because it’s a small school and I do understand.

“My older children went to a small school that has closed, and my younger children went to a larger school.

“I genuinely believed that larger school could not deliver that quality of care of education, of involvement and belonging that the small school delivered.

“But I was wrong.”

Cllr Davies, when she looked at the report, noted that Year One in Llandinam has five pupils.

She added that this would mean that the class would not be able to field its own “football or rounders” teams or other extracurricular activities.

Head of Additional Learning Needs (ALN), Inclusion, and Wellbeing Judith Hickey said: “We really should note that transformation has happened in a number of areas across the authority – Ystradgynlais being one of those where a number of (primary) schools were closed and four larger ones were built.”

Ms Hickey, a former headteacher of Ysgol Golwg y Cwm primary school in Ystradgynlais, said that transformation has “been really successful in the Ystradgynlais area,” and that children in the town now have more “essential opportunities” for extracurricular activities.

Cllr Sue McNicholas (Labour) represents Ynyscedwyn, which is part of Ystradgynlais, and added: “I agree. We resisted, we fought against the closure of all the schools, but we were wrong.”

Conservative group leader Cllr Aled Davies (Llanrhaeadr-ym-Mochant and Llansilin) said: “Every time we talk about school closures the Ystradgynlais example is rolled out.

“But we still have four schools that are really close to each other.

“It’s a ridiculous comparison to rural Powys where children have to catch a bus at 7:30am in the morning.”

In the last couple of years both Ysgol Llangedwyn and Ysgol Bro Cynllaith (Llansilin) primary schools were closed in Cllr Davies’ ward.

Cllr Davies continued. “I supported one (Llangedwyn) because of the very small numbers and closeness of other schools.

“In the other which I didn’t support (Bro Cynllaith) a third of the pupils have now gone over the border to Shropshire.

“You have got to be careful when you say that something works in one area so it will be fine in another.

“We have to take it one school at a time and understand the issues because they are all different.”

Head of Transforming Education Marianne Evans agreed with Cllr Davies, and explained that during the transformation process in both Ystradgynlais and the Gwernyfed catchment areas, schools were closed but new school buildings were also built there.

Recommendations from the committee will now be added to the report before it goes before a meeting of the Liberal Democrat/Labour Cabinet where it is expected that a decision to go the next stage of the process will be agreed.