Senedd Member criticises ‘deeply concerning’ timing of consultation

LOCAL Senedd Member Paul Davies has spoken out against Pembrokeshire County Council’s proposal to close Ysgol Clydau, warning that the timing of the public consultation — launched in the weeks before Christmas — is “deeply concerning” and unfair to affected families.

Mr Davies said the school plays a vital role in the community, and that any attempt to close it would have a damaging impact locally, including on efforts to promote and protect the Welsh language.

“Ysgol Clydau is a crucial part of the local community, and its closure would have a huge impact on the local area,” he said. “It’s unacceptable that this consultation has been launched without any discussion with local stakeholders, and announcing it just before Christmas is very disappointing.”

He pointed to the school’s strong record, noting that Estyn inspectors highlighted positive relationships between staff and pupils and praised a curriculum that makes purposeful use of the surrounding area to inspire curiosity.

“Closing this school would be to the detriment of local families, and it would also undermine efforts to protect and promote the Welsh language in the community,” he added.

Mr Davies urged Pembrokeshire County Council to ensure the consultation is meaningful by “genuinely listening to local voices” and working with parents, representatives and the wider school community to find a constructive way forward.

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.