A MEETING held today with Newport City Council on the future of Duffryn High School was “very amicable and productive”, according to the school’s head teacher.

The council met with Jon Wilson, the school’s head, and representatives of Ysgol Gyfun Gwent Is Coed to discuss the proposal to resubmit a planning application for a new Welsh-language secondary school on the site in Duffryn Way.

It comes just a day after it was announced that a planning application for the new school and a much-needed new classroom block at Duffryn High was to be given a second chance.

The £17 million plans, which were blocked by Newport City Council’s planning committee over flooding concerns earlier this month, are to be resubmitted.

This time, every one of the 50 members of the authority will be given the chance to vote on the plans and the fresh application is due to be heard by councillors at a meeting in May.

Speaking after the meeting, Mr Wilson said: “This was a very amicable and productive meeting and it is encouraging for the development.

“I look forward to working together with Newport City Council for a positive outcome.”

Council leader Bob Bright said the decision to resubmit the application was no reflection on the planning committee members or the planning department.

He said: “It is right that all councillors will now have the chance to discuss the application and have the right to vote on it.”

A council spokeswoman said: “The mood of the meeting was very amicable and all parties agreed it was the way forward for everyone concerned.

“It is stressed that this resubmission and redetermination is no reflection on the correctness of the earlier decision taken by the planning committee, based on planning officer advice.

“However it was decided that in view of the significance of this application in terms of educational need and the wider strategic development of the Duffryn area, it was considered appropriate and more democratic for all councillors to take collective responsibility for this decision.”

Tredegar Park councillor Trevor Watkins, who’s also vice-chair of governors of the high school, said the resubmitted application could prove pivotal to the future of the Welsh language in Gwent.

He said: “Since the very beginning, since it was discussed by Newport City Council and the Welsh Government and the governors of Duffryn High School, I’ve been involved in supporting the application wholeheartedly from the beginning and I still support it.

“It’s very important for the future of the Welsh language in South Gwent. I don’t speak Welsh myself and I wish I could but at the end of the day, I’m all for promoting the Welsh language in Wales.

“It’s a really positive move in regards to Newport City Council and the Welsh Government to promote the Welsh language in South East Gwent where it isn’t spoken all that often.

“It’s very important for the students for Welsh education as far as I’m concerned.”