Cowbridge town council will once again oppose the Vale of Glamorgan Council's plans to expand Cowbridge Comprehensive School, this time to accommodate for 210 primary school pupils and 48 pre-schoolers.

The council previously objected to a proposal to expand Cowbridge Comprehensive which would have seen Y Bont Faen primary school discontinued.

Despite a majority of responses to the consultation not supporting the new proposals the Vale of Glamorgan Council plans to go ahead.

Mayor Siân Vaughan read out a statement from the Chair of Governors at Y Bont Faen which listed their comments against the proposal.

"There were questions about the timing of the consultation when the schools are closed in lockdown, a lot of people are feeling that's not ideal," she said.

"It's forcing through an agenda which will be to the detriment of our community.

"They were concerned about the loss of a primary head, there's no evidence that all through schools are the best and there's no empirical evidence that an all-age school can improve pupils' performance in either attainment or personal development.

"There are problems with the site: traffic, road safety, its not safe to walk with prams and it's on the periphery of the town. There's less outside space for the primary school based at the comprehensive grounds.

"Y Bont Faen has extensive grounds, lots of garden and forest school areas, and the loss of the all-weather running track would happen if this happened at the comprehensive site."

Cllr Heather Weddell clarified that the primary head teacher role would transfer across to the new all-through school, but not as the head of school.

"What we've been told is that it would be a head of department in primary in the same way they have a head of sixth form or a head of science," she said.

"There would also not be a discrete governing body for the primary school as there is now."

Cllr Gwen Baty said she had "a lot of concerns" about the proposals.

"I am a special needs teacher for children who have problems," she said.

"These children in a massive area of school will be really really penalised. They need a space. They don't need to be in a huge environment.

Cllr Alec Trousdell said there were many issues: "We could almost resend what we sent before to the Vale of Glamorgan Council.

"I'm proposing to say the same things: you haven't taken account of what the people want, as you have said, there's no evidence that these schools work, there's very few superschools that have actually been shown to work and the site is absolutely no good at all.

What are they going to do, build another Aberthin by-pass? It's just going to be completely gridlocked every morning and afternoon," he said.

Cllr Rhys Watkins said: "We've had this discussion so many times over the last year. Maybe the best option of trying to mirror what they say. Is it worth going and backing what the Governors are proposing?

Mayor Vaughan said the consensus was that the council would supporting the school governors, based on their concerns.

Cllr John Andrew agreed and said: "I think we should also reiterate our objection as expressed in the consultations.

"Our position hasn't changed. I think we should also make the point that they're going ahead with this contrary to the wishes to the community in consultation."

The Vale of Glamorgan Council says the "key driver" for the proposal is to meet the future demand for English medium primary education in Cowbridge as a result of existing and proposed housing developments.

"The Cowbridge Comprehensive School site was identified as the preferred site to deliver the increased capacity," say the VOG Council.

"The Council considered other examples in the area where multiple education phases share a single site, such as Llantwit Learning Community and Ysgol Gymraeg Bro Morgannwg.

"The all-through school model provides additional opportunities in terms of greater collaboration, enhanced facilities, improved transition and consistent site management."

In accordance with section 49 of the School Standards and Organisation (Wales) Act 2013, any person may object to the proposal before the end of 28 days beginning with the day on which the proposals were published, that is to say by the end of 9 February 2021.Feedback can be send to [email protected]