PEMBROKESHIRE councillors are being asked to back major potential changes to school provision in the south of the county which could see multiple schools discontinued, along with the potential establishment of new 3-19 and 3-11 schools.

At Pembrokeshire County Council’s full council meeting of December 12, a recommendation before members asks that the Director of Education be authorised to undertake a public consultation on establishing a new 3-19 school, on a split site initially, but as part of a future investment to rebuild/extend Tenby’s Ysgol Greenhill site, or on a new site.

As part of that it also recommends Tenby Church in Wales Voluntary Controlled School and Ysgol Greenhill are discontinued.

A second part of the series of recommendations is a call to establish a new 3-11 primary school on the Saundersfoot School site “that encompasses the catchment of Saundersfoot and the catchment of Stepaside and Kilgetty, discontinuing Saundersfoot School and Stepaside school”.

A report for members says: “At a meeting of Cabinet on November 3, cabinet resolved that the [schools] Modernisation Working Group be requested to determine the final preferred outcomes in relation to the Tenby Area and that those recommendations be presented to full council in December 2025.”

It adds: “There are 534 surplus places in the primary sector in the Tenby area. There are 341 surplus places in the secondary sector in Greenhill School. Welsh Government does not set a fixed percentage or number of surplus places for schools, but there is guidance in the School Organisation Code and related documents.

“Surplus places should be minimised to ensure efficient use of resources and value for money. Historically, Welsh Government has considered 10 per cent surplus capacity as a reasonable planning margin for flexibility. When surplus places exceed 25 per cent, local authorities are expected to review provision and consider reorganisation or alternative use of space.

“In the Welsh context there are approximately 17 per cent surplus places in primary schools and 18 per cent in secondary schools. The Tenby area is 10 per cent above this in the primary phase at 27 per cent, and 10 per cent above in the secondary phase at 28.6 per cent”

In the case of Tenby Church in Wales VC it says the school has a surplus capacity of 38.1 per cent in 2025, and over a 25 per cent level for at least four years.

For Ysgol Greenhill it says the 1,194-pupil-capacity school has 877 pupils as of 2025, 28.5 per cent surplus places.

In the case of Saundersfoot Community Primary School, which has a capacity of 280 places, it says numbers were down to 151 by 2025, creating a surplus of almost half its capacity, (49.2 per cent).

For Stepaside, it says: “By 2025, enrolment is projected at 107, creating 101 surplus places—over half of the school’s capacity (50.5 per cent).”

The recommendations “to meet the council’s responsibility towards the planning of school places and ensuring a sustainable school estate to address the surplus places in the Tenby Area,” which will need public consultations, will be debated by members.

The meeting also includes two petitions opposing the potential closure of Manorbier and Ysgol Clydau, Tegryn, schools, after consultations on their futures were previously backed by councillors.

Fire-damaged school has operated with limited capacity since 2022, but consultation still uses original figures

A ROW over the future of Manorbier Church in Wales VC School has intensified after a parent and former governor accused Pembrokeshire County Council of using “misleading and incomplete” data in its statutory consultation on permanent closure.

Suzanne Pearton-Scale contacted The Herald this week after receiving a formal response to her complaint from Steven Richards-Downes, the Council’s Director for Education. He said the consultation process meets statutory requirements and that the data used by the authority is accurate.

But Ms Pearton-Scale says the Council has failed to address fundamental issues about the figures underpinning its case to shut the fire-damaged school — issues the community says have been raised repeatedly since the consultation began on 5 November.

Fire, delays and temporary accommodation

The dispute comes more than three years after the October 2022 fire that destroyed Manorbier’s main building. The Council later moved pupils into temporary accommodation, where the school has remained ever since — despite early hopes that a rebuild could be completed by 2026.

The Herald has reported extensively on delays linked to insurance negotiations, the £2.6 million rebuild estimate, and uncertainty over how much of that figure would be covered by insurers. At one stage the Council confirmed that its own liability included a £200,000 excess, but refused to confirm the total amount insurers were prepared to fund.

By April 2025, community frustration was growing, with residents saying the long delays had left the school in limbo while wider “school modernisation” proposals were being developed.

Capacity figures at the centre of dispute

In its consultation documents, the Council states that Manorbier has 86 places and more than 70% surplus capacity — one of the key criteria used to justify closure.

Ms Pearton-Scale says this figure is “entirely hypothetical” because the school has not had 86 usable places since 2022.

She says the temporary site only has a functional capacity of 30 pupils, and that with 23.5 pupils currently on roll, the true surplus is around 21%, well below the School Organisation Code thresholds for closure.

“The figures being presented to the public are not based on the school that actually exists today,” she said. “You cannot run a consultation on numbers that ignore three years of reality.”

Was the school removed from the Council website?

She also alleges that at one stage the school was removed from the Council’s website, something she says misled prospective parents and suppressed enrolment during a period when pupil numbers were being monitored.

PCC did not address this point in its response to her complaint.

Rebuild costs: ‘separate issue’ or central justification?

Mr Richards-Downes told Ms Pearton-Scale that the rebuild is “a separate matter” from the consultation.

However, The Herald notes that the Council’s own consultation documents repeatedly cite rebuild costs, temporary accommodation fees, and insurance factors as part of the rationale for closure.

Ms Pearton-Scale said: “The authority can’t claim it is not relevant while using those same costs to argue the school is no longer viable.”

Diocese opposition and community campaign

Earlier this year, The Herald reported that the St David’s Diocesan Board of Finance formally opposed closure, stating the school should be reinstated.

Local politicians, including county councillors, have previously accused PCC of “steamrolling” the closure through the modernisation process.

A petition launched by residents in mid-2024 gained hundreds of signatures in its first week and has since grown to more than 1,500 signatures in a parish of around 1,900 people.

Campaigners say this level of engagement shows overwhelming opposition and should carry weight in the consultation.

Council figures challenged

Ms Pearton-Scale disputes several other key consultation claims:

• That parental preference has shifted away from Manorbier: she says the cramped temporary site has deterred families, not lack of demand.
• That pupil numbers have declined by nearly 60% since 2015: she says the true decline prior to the fire was around 30%, and the remainder is due to enforced displacement.
• That per-pupil costs are high: she argues that temporary accommodation inflates figures that will not apply if a rebuild proceeds.

She says these issues were not adequately addressed in the Council’s response.

What happens next

The statutory consultation runs until 19 December 2025, after which officers will publish a consultation report and the Council’s Cabinet will decide whether to issue a statutory notice of closure.

If approved, the school could close in summer 2026.

Council response

Pembrokeshire County Council says the consultation is lawful, that its data is accurate, and that it has consulted all statutory bodies, including the Diocese.

The authority has been approached for further comment in light of the issues raised.

Town clerk shares article calling for editor to be “locked up” as private messages appear online

A DEFAMATION dispute involving Neyland Town Council escalated dramatically on Sunday (Dec 7) after an anonymous website published an article attacking The Herald’s editor Tom Sinclair, prompting the council’s clerk to share it publicly with comments urging others to circulate it.

It follows The Pembrokeshire Herald reporting on the action’s of the Clerk, a Proper Officer of a Community Council posting inappropriately on Facebook.

Of course, it is any local newspaper’s role to hold such actions to account.

The anonymous website, calling itself Clear Line News, was created only days earlier. It published an article on Sunday afternoon accusing Mr Sinclair of harassment, stalking, misuse of personal information, and other allegations which Mr Sinclair strongly denies. The piece was unsigned and provided no evidence to support its claims.

When asked by a reader who was behind Clear Line, the reply came: “We wish to keep this information private to ensure safety and wellbeing of the team. We are not regulated at all.”

Of particular concern is the appearance within the article of private Facebook Messenger screenshots taken from one-to-one conversations between Mr Sinclair and a local resident. These messages had never been published elsewhere.

Town clerk shares article with hostile remarks

Within minutes of the article appearing, Neyland Town Council’s clerk, Libby Matthews, posted it publicly on her personal Facebook page, writing: “If you’re a victim of his, you know this article is spot on… What a specimen. He should be locked up and the key thrown away. Share this far and wide.”

The comments have raised serious questions about impartiality, conduct online, and the appropriateness of a Statutory Officer sharing anonymous allegations while encouraging wider dissemination.

Neyland Town Council is already the subject of a £50,000 legal claim issued by Mr Sinclair this weekend relating to a statement the council posted on 8 October accusing the Herald of “targeted” and “bullying” reporting. That claim disputes the wording and the process used before publication.

The Pembrokeshire Herald, and it’s editor have been under attack for reporting on the chaotic goings on in Neyland Town Council, a matter of huge public interest, especially for the town’s residents.

Questions over authorship and anonymous page

Following separate reporting that ruffled feathers, earlier in the week, SARS Cymru director Ajay Owen posted publicly that he had created a new page called Clear Line News. But soon after the defamatory article appeared, Mr Owen stated on Facebook that he had “sold the page for £10” to a person named “Tomos”, but in private messages told Mr Sinclair he “agreed with the article”. The Herald understands that only one individuals—Mr Owen—had publicly connected himself to page before the article was published.

Ajay Owen has previously criticised The Herald’s editor for reports about him, and said he wanted to start his own news page

Initially, only two posts appeared on the page: a short item about taxi enforcement, and the piece targeting Mr Sinclair. A few more have since been added.

Another local resident, Sally Nolan, who previously featured in Herald court reporting, also shared the article publicly, writing: “Absolutely fantastic… please share everyone and let’s make this go viral.” Private messages between Ms Nolan and Mr Sinclair also appeared in the anonymous article, but were later removed.

Police report, legal actions and data concerns

Following the publication and rapid spread of the article, Mr Sinclair filed a police report on Sunday evening alleging harassment and malicious communications. He has also issued separate Pre-Action Protocol letters to Ms Nolan and Mr Owen.

Herald statement

A spokesperson for the Herald said: “The article published by the anonymous ‘Clear Line News’ website contains multiple serious allegations which are entirely false. It includes private messages that were never publicly shared.

Given the involvement of a statutory officer, the proximity to live legal proceedings, and the wider online circulation encouraged by individuals with personal disputes against our editor, this matter is being dealt with through the appropriate legal and regulatory channels.”