POWYS council’s cabinet is still being recommended to remove Welsh medium education from Brecon High School - despite councillors voting against it.

The nine member cabinet is meeting at County Hall on Tuesday when it will be asked to formally approve the closure of the Welsh language stream at Brecon High School.

That is despite a vote of the full council on Tuesday this week when members rejected the proposed closure of the Welsh language stream, with 32 councillors voting against its closure and only eight in favour. Cabinet members did not take part in Tuesday's vote.

If the independent-controlled cabinet agrees, a legal notice stating the authority’s intention to to close Brecon High’s Welsh language stream from August 31 this year, will be published.

Brecon High will then become an English medium school from September and education through Welsh would be centralised in Builth Wells. Pupils would transfer to Builth Wells High School or their nearest available Welsh medium school which could be in Ystalyfera, near Ystradgnylais, or Pontypool.

Cabinet member for schools Councillor Arwel Jones, who is recommending the closure, said at Tuesday’s full council meeting Brecon High only offers a small number of subjects through Welsh.

He told the council only four subjects at GCSE are taught in Welsh at Brecon, compared to 12 at Builth, which led to the council deciding it would have to provide free transport to Brecon pupils.

"Four subjects at GCSE is not an education in my view," said Cllr Jones.

Councillors said the fall in the numbers of pupils learning through Welsh at Brecon could be blamed on the council having ran two previous consultations since 2014 on closing the Welsh stream.

The council also agreed to provide transport to the Welsh stream at Builth High, which was also criticised by members. The council says it had to comply with a decision of a transport appeal that it should provide free transport to Builth.

In 2010/11 there were 67 pupils learning through Welsh at Brecon High but that number has now dropped to just 19.

During the full council meeting Talybont-on-Usk member Liam Fitzpatrick said the future of the stream is an issue for all of Breconshire and Mid Wales. He said: "A major Welsh town should be given the opportunity to educate its children in Welsh. The council has found money before and needs to find a way to keep the Welsh stream in Brecon."

Cllr Gwilym Vaughan, a former executive member for the Welsh language, said councillors should have done "something positive" for the Welsh language in south Powys 20 years ago.

Speaking in Welsh Cllr Vaughan said: "Decision should have been made to have Welsh medium schools in south Powys 20 years ago, it was a lost opportunity to do something positive for the Welsh language. But we have to look at situation as it is today.

"Four subjects isn’t fair for the pupils. From parents’ viewpoint four subjects isn’t good enough for children serious about the Welsh language. It’s a token. Children who are serious about Welsh must have choice of 12 subjects. Is there money for that to happen?"

Other councillors complained the council will spend more on transport than it will cost to enhance Welsh language provision at Brecon.

The leaders of the council’s Liberal Democrats, Conservative and Labour groups all spoke against the proposal.

School inspectors Estyn said it believes Powys council has shown closing the stream is likely to "at least maintain" current educational standards.

It said: "It is Estyn’s view that the proposer appears to have suitably

demonstrated that, given the small numbers of pupils in the Welsh medium

stream, that overall the proposal is likely to at least maintain the

current standards of education in the area."

During the council’s consultation period it received 237 written responses.

However, 71 responses were received from one individual respondent, and another 26 were received from another individual respondent. In addition, during the consultation period, individuals were encouraged to e-mail the council with the statement ‘All I want for Christmas is for the Welsh stream to stay open in Brecon High School’. 39 responses were received which only included this statement.

The written responses received included 39 responses from pupils.

In addition to the written responses, a copy of an online petition was received, which was signed by 236 people and included 67 written comments.

31 of these responses only included the statement ‘All I want for Christmas is for the Welsh stream to stay open in Brecon High School’.

Tuesday’s meeting starts at 9am in Llandrindod Wells and will also be webcast on the council’s website at http://powys.public-i.tv/core/portal/home

For a full report from Tuesday’s full council meeting see this week’s Brecon & Radnor Express - on sale now