Cowbridge with Llanblethian Town Council has formally objected to a pre-application consultation submitted as part of the expansion of Cowbridge Comprehensive School.

The council previously opposed the plans, which include a new building that will cater for 210 primary pupils and provide 48 part-time nursery places, during the public consultation stage.

In its response, the council criticises the traffic management plans on Aberthin Road in the wake of existing problems at drop-off and pick-up times and a need for parking safety measures. It also says the Vale of Glamorgan Council did not "properly examine" alternative sites.

"The choice and suitability of the proposed site has not been adequately demonstrated and the majority of local residents are against it," the council wrote.

"The key issues here are the facts that earlier consultations demonstrated that local residents are against the building of a primary school on this site and alternative sites have not been properly examined."

The Vale Council received 92 objections to the proposal after 28-day period that began in January.

"In the draft planning application the site is said to be vacant but is said to be being used as a 'School sports field associated with the existing Comprehensive School'," Cowbridge Town Council continued.

"The site cannot be both vacant and being used as a sports field. It is understood that in the event of a sports field being built upon there is a requirement that an alternative, equivalent sports field be provided.

"The traffic management conclusions seem somewhat complacent given that there are currently problems at drop-off and pickup times and these will only be exacerbated with the addition of 258 pupils and 22 staff.

"Also, there are plans to develop the old school buildings on Aberthin Road which will create extra traffic

"To accommodate the additional load a number of changes to parking arrangements are proposed but as highlighted in section 5.4 Parking Safety there are currently problems which need to be addressed. It seems that efforts to solve these problems have not so far been successful and it is not clear why they should be successful in the future."

Cowbridge Town Council also questioned why the same lengths to consult experts on these plans were not taken for other potential sites.

"If the Vale of Glamorgan Council is able to produce reports of this nature to support their planning application, why were they not able to do reports in similar detail to support the choice of site over and above other possible sites such as Y Bont Faen school, the Darren Farm / Clare Garden Village Taylor Wimpey site, the Cowbridge livestock market site et cetera," the town council wrote.

"If these other possible sites were examined in detail, then the reports should have been made available as part of the initial consultation.

"If they were not examined in detail then this work should be done prior to approval being given to proceed with the building of a school on the Cowbridge Comprehensive School site contrary to residents' wishes.

"In fact, if the proposed site has been chosen without proper consideration of alternative sites then the necessary due diligence for a decision of this magnitude involving a large amount of public money has not been done and it is frankly surprising that the Vale of Glamorgan Council has been able to reach a decision to proceed with a planning application for this site without that due diligence."

Nub News has approached the Vale of Glamorgan Council for comment and is awaiting a response.