Monmouthshire: School expansion at centre of council cash row

It had been agreed funds for new classrooms and a lift would go to Castle Park Primary School in Caldicot

A new lift for a primary school has been placed in doubt due to a row over how a £400,000 windfall is spent. 

It had been agreed the money would be spent on two classrooms at Castle Park Primary School in Caldicot, Monmouthshire, by September 2024.

However, Monmouthshire council's Conservative group complained the cash should be spent on a different school.

A cross-party committee has now ordered that the decision be put on ice until the full council meet on 31 August.

Labour's Martyn Groucutt, cabinet member for education, said: "Work is needed just to make two first floor classrooms accessible to anybody with physical disabilities by putting in a little lift."

The new classrooms would boost pupil capacity at Castle Park from 210 places to 260.

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The council's Conservative group claim that, because the money comes from a housing development at the former Sudbrook Paper Mill site, the cash should be spent at nearby school Archbishop Rowan Williams, where it claimed there is a greater need for extra places.

Mr Groucutt, said the Labour-led cabinet's plan, agreed in July, was to spend £439,286 of already-available cash at Castle Park.

More than £1m, he said, would then be spent at Archbishop Rowan Williams when it is paid to the council from other housing developments.

A Conservative councillor argued the cash should go to Archbishop Rowan Williams Church in Wales primary school

He said the work in Caldicot could be carried out immediately to address the "lack of suitable places in the town".

He told the council's scrutiny committee: "Archbishop Rowan Williams School will benefit from an amount of £1,156,000, and in addition to that will have a brand new nursery built for it, paid for by the Welsh government."

He said Archbishop Rowan Williams School was just four places off its 210 pupil capacity, adding that the head teacher and governors there were "supportive" of how the cabinet had agreed to spend funds.

Lisa Dymock, on the left, and Martyn Groucutt had a difference of opinion at a Monmouthshire council meeting

Portskewett's Tory councillor, Lisa Dymock, said children in her ward had been unable to get into Archbishop Rowan Williams because of the lack of places.

She wanted the money split between the two schools.

Council legal officer, Jo Case, confirmed the money did not have to be shared between the schools and that the cabinet could decide how to spend it.

The decision will now be deferred until 31 August.