An ambitious £300m school building programme which could transform education across Powys over the next 10 years has taken a step forward after Cabinet gave the go-ahead to submit plans to the Welsh Government.
Powys County Council has prepared a new Strategic Outline Programme (SOP) to submit to the Welsh Government’s Sustainable Communities for Learning’s nine-year rolling programme.
Yesterday (Tuesday, May 7), the Cabinet agreed approved the programme for submission to the Welsh Government.
If approved by the Welsh Government, the programme will help the council deliver its Transforming Education Programme, which was relaunched in 2022 along with an updated version of the Strategy for Transforming Education in Powys, as well as help to deliver the council’s Welsh in Education Strategic Plan.
As part of the submission, the proposed £300m programme would see the Welsh Government provide just under £200m of funding for the construction of new education facilities with the council providing just over £100m.
Cllr Pete Roberts, Cabinet Member for a Learning Powys, said: “Securing the best start in life for our young people is the only way that we can build a Stronger, Fairer and Greener Powys. One of the ways we can achieve this is by transforming education.
“The Strategic Outline Programme that we will now submit to the Welsh Government can act as a catalyst to transform education in the county. It will help us provide planned provision for increasing the opportunities for a growing number of children and young people to become fully bilingual, fluent in both Welsh and English while delivering 21st Century facilities that would provide environments where learners and teachers thrive and reach their potential.
“I believe that this programme will help the council meet the aims of the Strategy for Transforming Education in Powys and implement the commitments in our Welsh in Education Strategic Plan, which will enable us to make good progress against our target of increasing the number of pupils being taught through the medium of Welsh.”
