An ambitious £50m plan to completely rebuild Newtown's schools has been described as a "once in a lifetime opportunity".

In a presentation to Newtown Town Council on September 24, officers from Powys County Council said "all options are on the table" for the future of schools in the area, including a possible 'all-through' school similar to a scheme already under consultation in Llanfyllin, which combines primary, junior and secondary education.

Plans for the second phase of funding for the scheme, which has already delivered £80m worth of improvements in Powys during it's first phase, are currently in their initial planning stages, but building work could begin by 2022 at the earliest with Ysgol Cedewain likely to be first on the list.

The County Council hoping says the second phase funding, which becomes available in April 2019, will fund a major programme of works to schools in Newtown, as well as Kerry's Brynllywarch Hall and a long awaited replacement of Machynlleth's Ysgol Bro Hyddgen building.

"We are still in the very early stages of planning but we are doing initial planning and feasibility work," Powys County Council’s senior manager for schools transformation, Marianne Evans, told the meeting.

"We need to engage from the ground up, this is not a case of Powys County Council saying 'This is what you're going to have'

"Because of the complex nature of the programme we have to look at how the programme is phased and 2022 is the very earliest we could start building work."

The 21st Century Schools Programme, a joint initiative between the Welsh Government and local authorities, is described by Welsh Government as a long term strategic investment in educational estate throughout Wales.

Mrs Evans told the meeting a number of sites in Park Lane currently owned by the council are being assessed for the scheme, as well as a possible new site between the new bypass and Treowen.

"We have started having initial discussions with stakeholders, and we're looking at potential sites already in local authority ownership in Newtown," she said.

"There are a lot of sites in the town, and the authority already owns a large block of land and buildings in the centre of town where the day centre, library and Ladywell Green school is already, and of course Ladywell House, so there are options which we're looking at."

The plan was expected to enter it's consultation phase in 2019/20 with design and build work earmarked for a possible start date in around 2022, subject to cabinet approval.