NEWPORT: Bassaleg school expansion plans more a step closer

The cabinet member for education at Newport council, Cllr Gail Giles, approved a 28 statutory notice “to increase the overall capacity of Bassaleg School from 1,747 to 2,050 with effect from September 2023”.

The statutory notice is the last stage before a final decision is made on whether to go-ahead with the expansion plans.

A report says an initial consultation with stakeholders found that 84 per cent of responses supported the proposal, with eight per cent against it.

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However, the residents’ committee of Court Crescent and Forge Lane previously told the Local Democracy Reporting Service that current levels of traffic resulted in “gridlock” and the report on the first consultation repeats this view.

The initial consultation launched in October 2020 and lasted six weeks until November 12.

Of the 184 responses, 16 raised concerns over parking, picking up and dropping off.

The local ward member for Graig, Cllr David Williams, said he welcomed the proposal to increase the capacity of the school but has concerns over “the traffic that the larger school will generate and the impact on the community”.

He said: “Some specific areas that will suffer are Court Crescent and the Griffin and I hope that as much as possible can be done at the design stage to mitigate these problems.”

The project will cost around £28 million, with £16 million from the Welsh Government’s 21st century schools programme.

The council will fund the remaining £12 million through section 106 contributions from the Jubilee Park and Tredegar Park Golf Club housing developments, and supported borrowing.