Developers given more time to build Dolau Primary School extension

COUNCILLORS have agreed to give more time for developers to build an extension to a primary school to cater for a 1850 house development in Rhondda Cynon Taf

A report agreed to by the council’s cabinet on Tuesday, July 20 recommended delaying the creation of more places to serve the Llanilid development in Llanharan until 2024.

The new building that will be provided by the housing developers is due to be an extension to the dual-language provision at the existing Dolau Primary School.

In April 2019, cabinet approved the proposals following consultation with an implementation date of September 2021.

The housing developer Persimmon Homes, currently building a significant number of new homes in the Llanharan area, are responsible for constructing the new building as a part of their planning obligations for the new housing development at Llanilid.

The cabinet report said that Persimmon Homes have had to overcome a number of significant planning constraints, and since 2019 have been collaboratively working and engaging with statutory planning consultees, including Natural Resources Wales and the health and safety executive, to satisfy all obligations.

It said that Persimmon are now confident that all queries raised to date by the
statutory consultees have been addressed, and as such are targeting a
planning submission date this summer.

“Given the time that has lapsed and the impact that this has on the original programme, it is evident that the new building will not be constructed by the original date approved by cabinet,” the report added.

As a result of this delay, and to mitigate any additional risks that may
arise with this project, the recommendation to cabinet is to approve a delay to the implementation date by three years, the maximum delay allowed within
the School Organisation Code, until September 2024.

But the report said that Persimmon are optimistic that this proposal will be delivered before this end date.

The new school building will accommodate up to 480 pupils, plus 60 part
time nursery places, for children aged between 3 and 11 years.

It will be created and established as an extension to Dolau Primary School in the first instance, and will therefore increase the total available capacity of the dual language school to 921, plus 124 part time nursery places.

The capital cost of constructing the new school will be met by the
housing developers, Persimmon Homes, as part of their Community
Infrastructure Levy (CIL) responsibilities.

On completion, the developers will hand the building over to the council.

Local councillor for Llanharan, Geraint Hopkins said residents are depending on the delivery of this and he was supportive of the time extension but pointed out that the developer is hopeful that it might be able to deliver it earlier.