A senior councillor has been assured that the site for building a new £19.3 million 360-space primary school in Brecon is the right one.

At a meeting of Powys County Council’s Liberal Democrat/Labour Cabinet on Tuesday, February 18, senior councillors received a report outlining the bid for Welsh Government funding for a new school building for Ysgol Golwg Pen y Fan.

The primary school opened last September and operates across three sites.

This follows the merger of Mount Street Infants and Junior schools in Brecon and nearby Cradoc Primary School.

The new school would be built on the former Brecon High School site in Penlan.

Deputy council leader and Brecon West ward representative, Labour’s Cllr Matthew Dorrance said: “I have raised concerns about the location of this proposal since the plans initially came forward under the last council.”

He added that he had met with the council’s head of transforming education, Marianne Evans to discuss his concerns about the site and added that he had received a “comprehensive response” on those.

Cllr Dorrance said: “It was really helpful to understand the work done to identify the site.

“I asked for officers to look at a number of sites in Brecon for potential development because I had concerns about access and active travel to this area.”

He explained that a further 16 locations for the school development in Brecon were investigated.

Cllr Dorrance said: “It’s clear to me from work done by the education service there is only one site in the locality that can be developed for this purpose because of the size and constraints - and that is the old high school site at Penlan.

“I do welcome the commitment that active travel and accessibility will be considered at every stage of the project.”

He added that it was also welcome that two extra buses would also serve the site.

“I’m willing to accept the assurances,” said Cllr Dorrance.

Cabinet then moved on to a vote and unanimously agreed the funding bid.

If successful the Welsh Government would provide 65 per cent of the funding, which is £12.540 million, while the council will need to find the rest, which equates to £6.752 million, and would be found by borrowing.

Education officers have said that they hope to see the bill drop by over £3.3 million as the project goes through various design stages.

If everything goes as planned the new school could be open by September 2027.