MANY school improvement projects are likely to be scrapped or delayed following the Welsh Government's announcement that it is withdrawing from the current building programme reports ANDY SHERWILL.

And as part of the 21st Century Schools project a new primary school for Raglan had been planned, but local councillors fear that its replacement could be as much as ten years away.

The recent meeting of Raglan Community Centre heard that Monmouthshire County Council were now undertaking repairs during the summer break to the current junior school building which doubles as a community centre.

It was understood that these repairs would not have been carried out if the school had been moving into a new building in September 2012.

Councillor Trevor Phillips said: "For Raglan not to have the likelihood of a new school to look forward to for some 10 years is a sorry situation for the village to be in.

"The infant building has been condemned many times and it really is about 10 years past its sell by date and combined that with the dual use of the junior school and community centre is not an ideal partnership, leaving Raglan crying out for a 21st Century School."

Monmouthshire Councillor Andrew Crump ( pictured) added: "I don't think a new school is as long as ten years away, but it certainly won't be any time soon.

"The indications are that Monmouthshire has to go back to the drawing board with its schemes and come up with revised plans and costings to reflect the fact that the authority has to inject 50 percent of the scheme's funding, instead of the original 30 percent.

"Additionally, the longer a scheme is left on hold the more likelihood that costs will also go up as well making it even more of a burden on the authority."

Councillor Crump suggests that Monmouthshire County Council might have to re-evaluate its standing orders on finance, adding: "I have been investigating alternative funding streams available for a new school. But while there are a number of options available, the current standing order status could prevent the authority applying for these grants."

Kitchen used a classroom and community centre

FOLLOWING the closure of Raglan School's kitchen for midday meals, the unit is being divided into two, with half of it being used as a classroom for teaching home economics while the remaining half will be used as part of the community centre.

These current renovations being undertaken also include the installation of new toilets and new lighting in the main hall.

As from September 1, a new management committee will take over the responsibility of running the community centre side of the building from Monmouthshire County Council.

Councillor Trevor Phillips has requested for the release funds held by the Charity Commission for undertaking additional building work to extend the community centre's portion of the kitchen.