A NEW super-school for pupils aged three to 19 will go ahead in Abergavenny, despite the cost ballooining to nearly £70m.

Councillors approved funding to meet a £26m increase in costs at a full Monmouthshire Council meeting last Thursday.

The go ahead for the new all-through school will see the new 1,900-pupil campus built on the current site of King Henry VIII school, one of the oldest schools in Wales dating back to the 1540s.

The new school, which will also replace Deri View Primary, will include nursery, primary, secondary and sixth-form learning, as well as Flying Start, provision for children with Additional Learning Needs and a wellbeing centre providing behaviour support.

Welsh medium school Ysgol Gymraeg Y Fenni will move to the current site of Deri View as part of the plans, allowing it to expand.

The projected cost has grown from £43m to £69.7m, councillors were told last week, with the Welsh Government set to contribute around £47m towards the project as part of its Sustainable Learning Communities Programme and the council needed to find an extra £7.7m to fund the other £22.7m.

The budget has ballooned following changes to the design, site constraints and inflationary costs, it was revealed.

Abergavenny councillor Martyn Groucutt (Welsh Lab), cabinet member for education, said the school represented “a fantastic step forward for Abergavenny as a community”.

“It represents a huge investment, the biggest investment in Abergavenny since the building of Nevill Hall Hospital,” he told Thursday’s meeting.

Cllr Groucutt gave assurance in response to concerns around safeguarding, saying that older and young pupils would be in separate buildings on the site.

Cllr Richard John (Welsh Con, Mitchel Troy), Conservative group leader, said it was a “momentous day” for the council.

He said the council would have to “front up to the public that we have made a decision to invest £70m in the life chances of young people”.

“That means we are not going to have as much money to put into roads or other capital priorities, but I really do not think there is anything more important that we could spend £70m on than the life chances of young people,” he said.

Cllr Paul Pavia (Welsh Con, Chepstow) said the investment would mean “less for other capital works”, but that it was the “right thing to do” due to the benefits of the development.

However deputy council leader, Cllr Paul Griffiths (Welsh Lab, Chepstow), disputed any such suggestions.

the project would take away £70m from the council’s available funding, due to the Welsh Government contribution of £47 million.

“Today is clearly a day for celebration for the whole council and for the people of Abergavenny,” he said.

Council leader Cllr Mary Ann Brocklesby (Welsh Lab, Llanelly) said it was “a very exciting day” and that it represented “one of the biggest investments ever in the county of Monmouthshire”.

“We are doing it for the future generations, we are doing it to make the best possible start in life for our young people”, she added.

Cllr Armand Watts (Welsh Lab, Bulwark and Thornwell) said £47m was “a colossal amount of money” for the Welsh Government to invest.

“In many ways it’s like winning the lottery,” he said.

Planning permission was granted earlier this month, and the school is expected to open in 2024.

The design of the new school had been ‘challenging’, said a report, with the site a collection of disparate buildings and open playing fields.

The new school will also be the first 3-19 operationally net zero carbon school in Wales.

Photovoltaics will be put on the roof and any remaining carbon will be offset by the purchase of off-site renewable energy.