No plan to close Cwmcarn High School over asbestos - councillor

6:10pm Monday 11th March 2013 in Gwent news

A SENIOR Caerphilly councillor has hit out at claims the closure of Cwmcarn High School over asbestos fears is linked to the council's plan to tackle surplus spaces in the borough.

Cllr Rhianon Passmore, cabinet member for education, said there was a lot of "miscommunication" circulating in the community and stressed the two are completely separate issues.

She said the 21st Century Schools programme, which could see the closure of three schools in the borough to reduce surplus spaces, involved all schools and is totally unconnected to the problems at Cwmcarn.

Parents, whose children attend the school, now moved to Ebbw Vale, dispute this.

Cllr Passmore said the school remained closed because the authority believes allowing pupils and teachers to return in its current condition would breach its duty of care and would expose occupants to a health risk the council to an uninsured risk.

She said: "There is clearly a lot of confusion and misunderstanding about the current situation and this is causing distress to the whole school community."

"Although the council is not the owner of the school premises, it has a duty of care under the Education Act to the pupils receiving education at Cwmcarn."

The Ty-Sign ward member said there was a significant amount of asbestos debris in the ceiling and roof voids, as well as the heater cabinets, and a senior teacher union representative has stated they would be unwilling for their members to return to work without the removal of the asbestos risk.

She said the council's priority was the safety, health and well-being of the pupils and staff and made no apology for closing the site back in October.

She said action taken by the governing body banning the council from the site had resulted in a significant delay in progressing the required survey to determine what could be done at the site.

A report carried out by the Health and Safety Laboratory on behalf of the governors recommended an assessment to determine the required remediation works, which was completed last month. The outcome is expected shortly.

Last week, we told how around 100 pupils had left the school to join others since it was shut.

Cllr Passmore said the council could not prevent this but said it was working with the school to resolve issues at the site as quickly as possible.

No-one from the governing body was available for comment.

Comments(8)

rlewis says...
7:36pm Mon 11 Mar 13

If there are no plans to close Cwmcarn, but it is believed that there is significant asbestos debris for the school not to resume normal duties, then why has there been no work done to rectify the situation since the day the school last opened its doors ?

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michelle1976 says...
7:38pm Mon 11 Mar 13

All trust and respect has been lost (if ever I had) for CCBC. My daughter has suffered both emotionally and physically over this and I cannot stand to see her suffer anymore. The report by HSE clearly says that we can return to our "home" so how can they say they have the best interests of the school...RUBBISH!!!!
! WE WANT OUR SCHOOL BACK AND WE WILL CONTINUE TO FIGHT UNTIL WE WIN,PLEASE KEEP SUPPORTING OUR COMMUNITY AND SIGN OUR PETITION OUR CHILDREN NEED YOU!!!!!

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ginger79 says...
8:23pm Mon 11 Mar 13

The council are good at closing schools down , making false promises to the comunity...costs me extra £80 a week in fuel to transport my children back and fore to school because they closed and sold the school and still to this day years later stands empty.... With regards to Asbestos the council dont care about it being on allotment plots .. I have asked the council many occasions to remove the asbestos from the allotment plot where we grow our food and where our children play guess what they said " put it in your car and take it to the refuge" they want me to put broken asbestos sheets in my car where i transport my my children .... NEED I SAY ANYMORE ... CCBC all they are interested in is MONEY... we are all just a number i think this has been proven so many times.. THEY ARE A DISGRACE

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Laurajay says...
9:21pm Mon 11 Mar 13

It would appear then that ccbc are still desperately clinging to a report that has since been proven to be inaccurate by two separate reports.
What could the reason for this be if not yet another attempt by ccbc to see the back of our excelling foundation school?

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bradybunch says...
9:33pm Mon 11 Mar 13

There is no miscommunication here! Cllr Passmore is doing everything she can to keep Cwmcarn High School shut, the woman is a liar.

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jayjay says...
9:37pm Mon 11 Mar 13

If there are definitely no plans to close the school, please can the council confirm that it will be open for the new term in September. Decisions are taking so long that it is causing new starters to choose other schools, when Cwmcarn would have been their 1st choice. Hence, the new intakes will probably be a lot less than usual, which will mean empty places, which will obviously play right into the council's hands when they consider closure of schools with empty places. I agreed with the original decision to close - health is No. 1 priority, but this has all been dragging on far too long now!

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xjackiex says...
10:02pm Mon 11 Mar 13

If the school was to reopen tomorrow. Who is going to teach the kids?. The Union would not allow teaching staff to return to work.
A senior union representative has stated that they would be unwilling for their members to return to work at the building without the removal of the asbestos risk.

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isobel57 says...
11:41pm Mon 11 Mar 13

'Setting the record straight on Cwmcarn' What a misleading title Councillor. Yes the current situation is causing distress but you have done nothing to clarify the confusion and misunderstanding. In fact you seem more confused than we are. All the misinformation has evolved from the CCBC press releases. No one is denying the presence of asbestos in the school many buildings of that age do have asbestos.
The airborne sampling by HSL shows that there is no immediate risk as levels are below the quantum level. The buildings could be reopened and remedial work undertaken where its necessary.
Yes, there maybe debris in the voids, this can be removed, ceiling tiles can be replaced if necessary, repairs can be carried out. The asbestos can be managed, the purpose of the Ensafe Management survey is to advise what work has to be done and how it can be managed.
I am totally fed up with the CCBC bland and insincere statement about their priority being the health and well being of pupils and staff. I think they were wrong in not getting the HSE/HSL involved before making the decision to close the school completely. If they had done so perhaps the money could have been used for demountable classrooms and remedial work, and a lot of pupils parents and staff would have been spared the stress and worry of having health checks,counselling,a
nd the moving of schools.
The Governors did not refuse permission for Santia to carry out the invasive and destructive survey but simply requested a delay so that HSL could carry out their tests. CCBC should have done this anyway. Stop blaming the Governors,council
they have complied with all of your requests except one and yet you take every opportunity to criticise them. There are constant insinuations that they have taken control. In fact the council have the school keys and there is a council employee on site. STOP blaming them START working with them as you claim that CCBC are- INCORRECT. Why is there still so much secrecy surrounding the 'Impartial' Expert could it be because he is the expert who expressed his views so explicitly on television as soon as Santia published their report?'Openness and Transparency' I don't think so!
Perhaps it is time that the School Governors were allowed to speak and'SET THE RECORD STRAIGHT'.

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