Exciting proposals that could bring £111 million of investment into state-of-the-art education facilities at The Works: Ebbw Vale have been agreed by Blaenau Gwent Council’s Executive Committee on Wednesday (22 September 2010).
The decision to support school re-organisation paves the way for massive investment in:
- New Secondary and Primary (3-16) school provision
- Replacement new special school
- New integrated children’s centre
- New ‘Learning Zone’ with provision for post 16 education
‘We’re listening’ – Blaenau Gwent Council’s wide-ranging public consultation on the proposals – was hugely successful and in two months raised over 2,600 responses.
The Council’s Executive made its decision on the basis of the full and detailed report on the consultation that included all the responses – both for and against – from pupils, teachers, parents, governors and local people across Blaenau Gwent.
The results showed strong approval for the education investment projects at The Works and a good deal of support for most of the formal school re-organisation proposals.
Coun Des Hillman, Leader of Blaenau Gwent Council, said:
“These are bold and exciting proposals to change education, training and learning for the younger generation in Blaenau Gwent for the better.
“For us to succeed, it’s vital that every one of our pupils and students has access to modern, 21st century education and training. We must make the most of this once in a lifetime opportunity to secure massive investment for new education facilities at The Works in Ebbw Vale.”
Coun Steve Bard, Blaenau Gwent Council’s Executive Member for Education, said:
“Our objectives are ambitious – we want to transform education and training opportunities in Blaenau Gwent. We intend to raise standards of achievement, provide better opportunities, offer more choice and help more young people to stay in education post-16.
“We are confident we can be successful – if we take this chance to secure the funding we need to build state of the art education facilities at The Works.”
The Executive Committee has decided that the proposals should be published as a statutory notice. There will be two months following publication for objections.
All the objections together with the Council’s observations will then be sent to the Welsh Assembly Government Ministers for determination.
The Welsh Ministers will consider any proposal to close the Brynmawr Foundation School sixth form whether or not any objections are made. They will determine whether to approve the proposals, with or without modification or subject to the occurrence of an event or reject them.
The Council has agreed under the terms of the Instrument of Delegation to be the recipient of any objections to any proposals made under s113A of the 2000 Act to close the Brynmawr Foundation School sixth form.
