LAND close to Mounton House School, which will close next year, is on a list of potential sites for development in Monmouthshire council’s Local Development Plan, it has emerged.
Campaigners say the issue has raised questions about the authority’s decision to go ahead with closing the special school, located in Pwllmeyric, near Chepstow.
A public consultation proposing the school’s closure said that “restrictions on the access to the site preclude residential development.”
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However two sites close to the school are listed among the council’s candidate sites for development in its LDP.
One shows an area of land measuring 20.4-hectares at St Lawrence Lane, with the site proposer listed as Bovis Homes Limited.
The other shows a 12.8-hectare site west of the A466 and Mounton Road.
The land directly next to the school has not been submitted for inclusion in the LDP though.
Monmouthshire council’s Labour group said it had a request for the decision to close the school to be called-in rejected.
It then withdrew the request, and instead the group plans to bring forward a motion raising the issue.
Cllr Dimitri Batrouni, leader of the group, said the public was previously told that no development would happen on the school site, because access issues prevented it.
But he said it now appears there is a possibility that land close to the school could be developed for housing.
“This is a deeply worrying development and raises a number of questions about the school closure,” Cllr Batrouni said.
“We will be seeking answers to these questions over the coming weeks, not to mention how such sites could be considered given the daily traffic chaos people in Chepstow currently experience.”
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Monmouthshire council’s cabinet voted to close the school – which caters for boys aged 11-16 with social, emotional and behavioural difficulties – at the end of August next year.
The authority says the school is no longer in a “fit for purpose condition” and does not meet the needs of a wide enough range of Monmouthshire pupils with additional learning needs.
A spokeswoman for the council said: “Our understanding is that the ‘call-in’ proposal has been withdrawn.
“The ‘call in’ was interested in how the Mounton House School site will be used when the school closes next year.
“This is yet to be considered by council, so there will be future opportunities for all councillors to engage in this discussion.”
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