The next Welsh-medium secondary school for Powys pupils could be built outside the county.

At a meeting on Wednesday, March 20, councillors and lay members of Powys County Council’s Learning and Skills committee discussed the draft proposals to split up Ysgol Calon Cymru and create a new all-through Welsh-medium school at the Builth Wells campus.

The Llandrindod Wells campus would become an English medium school while retaining the Ysgol Calon Cymru brand.

During discussions, the question was raised on what is being done for Welsh-medium education in the southeast of the county.

Powys Independents Cllr Gareth E Jones (Llanelwedd) pointed out that sections of the report say that mid Powys pupils are the only ones in the county unable to access Welsh-medium secondary provision.

“But the paper excludes the catchment area for Brecon,” said Cllr Jones.

Cllr Jones asked: “Why is Ysgol y Bannau (primary school in Brecon) not included in the new school catchment area? It would be logical and give it more pupils.”

He pointed out that the Welsh-medium provision for pupils in the south of Powys is out-of-county at Ysgol Gymraeg Ystalyfera in Neath Port Talbot and Ysgol Gymraeg Gwynllyw in Pontypool, Torfaen.

Gwynllyw takes Welsh-medium pupils from other counties in Gwent.

As Torfaen increases the number of Welsh-medium primary schools, it is expected that Gwynllyw will fill up – and mean that another Welsh-medium secondary school for the region is needed.

Head of transforming education Marianne Evans explained that the council is working with partners across county borders on potentially establishing a new Welsh-medium secondary school in the “heads of the valleys kind of area.”

Plaid Cymru’s Cllr Bryn Davies (Banwy, Llanfihangel and Llanwddyn said): “You know this, but we don’t.

“Are they for 10 to 15 years hence, or can they be included in our own plans?

“It would be good to know the reality, so we can form an opinion.”

Matthew Curtis has been seconded by the Welsh Government to work with Powys’s education department on school transformation.

Mr Curtis said: “In my Welsh Government post we did a lot of work in joining up local authorities and aligning their strategies around Welsh-medium.”

This work was to link the ideas with investment in new buildings through capital funding.

All councils in Wales, including Powys, have submitted a list of potential school building or maintenance projects to the Welsh Government so that they can bid for grant funding for them over a nine-year period.

Mr Curtis continued: “We understand there is a flow of pupils across (county) boundaries to receive the Welsh-medium education nearest to them.

“We established a formal working group across all of the southeast local authorities (Blaenau Gwent, Caerphilly, Monmouthshire, Torfaen) and Powys to be able to monitor and coordinate all of those plans.

“This is to make sure we were best meeting the needs of Welsh-medium pupils across the area.

“There are commitments in the southeast local authorities to develop Welsh-medium secondary within nine years.”

Cllr Davies said that this hearing had caused a “real worry”.

Cllr Davies said: “We will be exporting the duty of developing bilingual kids to other counties, where we have no control or influence over what happens.

“We need some stronger influence on this.”