PLANS to build a classroom block for students at a Welsh language school in Newport have been deferred.

Around 90 pupils have been accepted to start at the new Ysgol Gyfun Gwent Is Coed school at Lighthouse Road for the forthcoming academic year and a further 120 students are to follow in September, 2017.

However, until their new school is built, which is estimated to be the summer of 2018, pupils will share the space at Ysgol Gymraeg Bro Teyrnon in Brynglas Drive.

Speaking at a meeting of Newport council’s planning committee, planning officer Geraint Roberts admitted that there may be issues regarding a traffic plan for the new students at the Brynglas Drive site as there are already 117 pupils at the school.

He said: “During the day, schools tend to be fairly quiet. It is pressurised with drop-off and pick-up so the daytime concerns may be lesser, but that doesn’t mean they’re not concerns.”

Allt-yr-yn councillor David Fouweather said an appropriate drop off point would be needed for these new pupils, who he believes will travel from across Newport and Monmouthshire, until the new school is built.

He said: “Knowing that site, and I’ve quite a few children from my ward attending the primary school, they’re either bussed in or driven by their parents.

“Is there any place at all where buses and parents can drop off safely without causing major disruptions?

“This is a school that’s on the top of a hill.”

Lliswerry councillor Ken Critchley said: “It’s two years and after two years, hopefully they will be relocated to the new school.

“If we have that [traffic] problem, I would support the suggestion that we could defer this so that some form of recognition can be applied to that application.”

Deputy chairman Val Delahaye, then queried: “I don’t think we would dare refuse application, would we?”

Marshfield councillor Richard White said: “We may possibly need a redesign of the parking areas to accommodate the mini buses and cars off the highways.”

The eight members of the council’s planning committee voted unanimously to defer the application until further detail is released on the traffic plan by the applicant, Gareth Draper from Newport city council.