Much has been written and said about Powys County Council’s recent Cabinet decision to implement the recommendations of the review of the Crickhowell High School catchment.

This review was introduced soon after the Welsh Liberal Democrat/Welsh Labour Administration took control of the council in May 2022; and I feel I must respond to claims made in your pages last week about our actions.

Firstly, it is false to claim that the current Cabinet decided to close Llanbedr school. That decision was made by the previous Independent/Conservative Cabinet in March 2022. The legal advice we received was clear – the law required that for us to abandon the decision it would require either a significant change in circumstances in the area, or that to implement the decision would be unreasonably difficult. That is why we decided to delay implementing the decision we had inherited for 12 months and ordered the catchment review, a process that the previous Cabinet had resisted before coming to its decision.

At every opportunity throughout the review process I and my colleagues stressed the requirement for a change of circumstances to those arguing for the retention of Llanbedr school. The Cabinet was actually due to consider the outcome of the catchment review before Christmas, but as Council Leader I ordered a further delay of one month to allow for the very late suggestion of a federation of Llanbedr School with Llangattock School to be backed up with a report to be presented to the next Cabinet meeting in mid-January.

Alas no such report appeared and instead only a verbal, un-costed and un-tested proposal was presented, requesting more time to look at an all-through (4-18), multi-site school model. Federation was apparently no longer ‘on the table’.

The federation (merging) of schools is something I in principle strongly support as a means of helping to keep as many of Powys’s smaller schools viable and educationally effective as possible. But for it to work, as with any ‘marriage’, one has to have two or more willing partners. In this instance there was, and still is, no evidence that both of the suggested partners were or are willing.

Similarly, there is as yet no evidence that schools across the Crickhowell catchment are keen on becoming part of an all-through school structure. So, with no viable change of circumstances to consider the Cabinet was left with no option but to approve the recommendations of the review.

The commitment and support for Llanbedr School from the pupils, parents, staff, local community and local county councillors has been thoroughly admirable. Alas, on occasions county councillors are placed in a position in which they have no option but to take an unpopular decision. This has been one such occasion.

Cllr James Gibson-Watt

Leader, Powys County Council