Secondary school closures agreed

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Three secondary schools are to close in Cardiff as part of council plans to reorganise education across the city.

The council executive agreed to close Llanedeyrn, Llanrumney and Rumney high schools at a meeting on Thursday.

As part of the £81m plans, a new 1,500 pupil school will be built on the site of the existing Eastern Leisure Centre.

The proposals will see St Teilo's Church in Wales school transfer to the old Llanedeyrn site with a new Welsh-medium high school built in its place.

There are currently 20 secondary schools in Cardiff but there are 4,500 excess places.

The plans aim to reduce this surplus while meeting the city's unprecedented demand for Welsh-medium education.

'Phased closure'

During its meeting the executive agreed to publish the appropriate statutory notices to allow it to close the three schools and proceed with its proposals.

The phased closure of Llanedeyrn High School will start in September 2010 with the site due to close by August 2014.

St Teilo's Church in Wales High School will then transfer to new buildings on the existing Llanedeyrn site from September 2011, subject to various statutory agreements involving the St Teilo's governing body.

A new Welsh-medium high school for 11 to 18-year-olds will then be established on the current St Teilo's site in Penylan in September 2012.

Following the closure of both Llanrumney and Rumney high schools, a new high school for 11 to 16-year-olds will be built on the Eastern Leisure Centre site in September 2012 to replace them.A new 1,500 pupil school is planned for the Eastern Leisure Centre site

The new school will have an initial capacity of approximately 1,500 pupils with scope to enlarge this in the future to 1,650 should the need arise.

The executive said that the loss of public open space at the Eastern Leisure Centre site will be offset by the creation of around five hectares of new space on the old Llanrumney and Rumney school sites.

Three new grass pitches will be created on the Llanrumney site and its artificial turf pitch will also be retained with the facilities all served by new changing rooms.

Cardiff council's executive member for education and lifelong learning Councillor Freda Salway said: "The executive now has the opportunity to replace poor-quality school buildings with high-quality premises that will meet demand for both English and Welsh-medium education in this area while improving leisure facilities for the whole community."

• The executive also agreed to revise the proposed closure of the city's Cefn Onn Primary School at its meeting.

Due to various circumstances surrounding admission arrangements the school will now close by August 2012 - a year later than initially planned.