PLANS for a £28 million expansion of Bassaleg School in Newport could move a step closer next week when a decision will be made on whether to proceed to the consultation stage.

Newport City Council has brought forward proposals to increase the overall capacity of the secondary school from 1,747 to 2,050 by September 2023. To help achieve this, a building replacement project is proposed to create the space for additional pupils.

The £28 million scheme would be part-funded by the Welsh Government’s 21st Century Schools programme, which would provide approximately £16 million of the required investment.

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Newport council would fund the remaining £12 million through borrowing and developer contributions from two new housing developments.

The scheme has been proposed to meet the increased demand from families in the school's catchment area following the opening of Jubilee Park Primary School in September 2017.

Currently the community-maintained school can take 270 new pupils into year seven each year, however this no longer meets the demands.

Therefore, the proposed capacity of 2,050 students at the school would mean an increase of 50 in each year group. This would enable the school to accept 330 year seven students each year.

A formal consultation would allow the council to interact with the relevant stakeholders including other schools, parents and prospective parents.

A report says that Newport’s primary school population grew by 1,565 between January 2014 and January 2020.

It says: “As these pupils move through their school life, the pressure on school places is moving into the secondary sector.

“Much of the city’s population growth is attributable to the scale of new housing developments, making use of former industrial sites and the regeneration of dilapidated and under-occupied residential buildings. New housing developments will result in the creation of thousands of new homes across the city.

“A development of more than 1,000 new homes is underway at Jubilee Park, just one mile away and within the catchment area of Bassaleg School. This development is reasonably expected to result in an increase of approximately 250 secondary school age pupils needing places in local schools.”

Due to the current coronavirus restrictions, it is proposed that there would be no public drop-in events as part of the consultation.

Instead questions could be submitted to the education service, with officers responding within a seven-day period.

If approved, the consultation would take place during the autumn term of 2020 and would last for 42 days.

A decision on whether to move to the consultation stage will be made on Tuesday (September 15).