Expansion to Penarth school from BBC's A Special School approved

Headteacher of Ysgol Y Deri in Penarth, Chris Britten, addressed members of the Vale of Glamorgan Council’s planning committee at a meeting on Wednesday, March 29.

The committee voted to approve the plans for a new building, proposed for land at Lower Cosmeston Farm to the south of Penarth, which will provide an extra 150 places for pupils.

However, the final decision rests with the Welsh Government after they made a holding direction.

Concerns were raised about the proposed land being located within a green wedge and the impact that the loss of greenfield land could have.

The headteacher of Ysgol Y Deri, Chris Britten, who features in BBC Wales documentary 'A Special School', speaking at a Vale of Glamorgan Council planning committee meeting. Picture: Vale of Glamorgan Council

Mr Britten, though, explained that the expansion is badly needed, adding that there isn’t enough dining space at lunchtime and that some pupils were refusing food and drink out of fear for soiling themselves due to a lack of hygiene rooms.

He said: “It takes 45 minutes at each end of the day just to get all of the pupils in and back out again into their transports.

“The children are eating in corridors as there is no dining space and lunchtime takes almost two hours.

“We have children in wheelchairs who refuse food and drink because they are afraid that due to the lack of hygiene rooms they will soil themselves and they won’t be able to get changed in time because there are queues at the hygiene rooms.

“We just don’t have enough space for them. They are in classes whose number exceed guidelines and the space that was built for them. And it is not just the pupils, but it is the staff as well.

“We have now doubled the number of staff that the site was originally intended for.”

Ysgol Y Deri is Britain’s biggest special needs school and caters for pupils aged between three and 19.

It featured in a BBC Wales documentary called A Special School, which captured the highs and lows of life at the school, including how it was impacted by the Covid-19 pandemic.

Mr Britten said the new building will be for primary school children aged between seven and 11.

Vale of Glamorgan Council planning officer, Ian Robinson, acknowledged that there were concerns relating to the proposed location of the site within a green wedge.

A map of where the new building for Ysgol Y Deri would be built. Picture: Vale of Glamorgan council

He said there would be a degree of harm to this, but added that the provision of a “critically needed” special education facility “decisively outweighed” this concern.

The holding direction on the application means that even though the council has voted to approve it, the Welsh Government still needs to decide whether or not it will call the application in for ministers to determine.

It is not entirely clear yet how long this could take.

The cost of expanding Ysgol Y Deri has already increased from £11 million to £12.1 million and advocates of the expansion are keen to see it approved and ready for pupils as soon as possible.

Ahead of the planning committee’s decision, Mr Britten said: “Having the space needed in this new build will make sure we make better use of the resources we have already got at the school so that we can actually use them across both sites.

“It is important that it is close to us.

“None of these children asked to be as they are, but it is our duty, I think, to continue to ensure they have the best life chances we can all give them.

“If we don’t get approval tonight, we will be in crisis as a school and as an authority.”