BRECON and Radnorshire MP Fay Jones believes proposed school closures in Powys are a direct result of the county council being “historically” underfunded by the Welsh Government.

In Parliament this week, Miss Jones lamented the proposed closures of four primary schools in Powys – Castle Caereinion Church in Wales School near Llanfair Caereinion (which has 23 pupils), Churchstoke County Primary School near Montgomery (36 pupils), Llanfihangel Rhydithon County Primary School in Dolau near Llandrindod Wells (37 pupils) and Llanbedr Church in Wales School near Crickhowell (40 pupils).

The future of two other schools – Cradoc School and Mount Street Juniors School in Brecon – are also under discussion.

Speaking via video link during Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government Questions on Monday, Miss Jones raised the historic underfunding of Powys County Council (PCC), which is decided in Cardiff Bay.

Prior to December 2019, Powys County Council held the unenviable position of receiving the lowest funding settlement from the Welsh Government in nine out of the last 10 years.

“No-one wants to see local school closures at the best of times, let alone during the middle of a pandemic,” said Miss Jones.

“School closures impact on children’s learning, cause additional stress for parents and usually lead to job losses for hard-working teachers and school staff.

“I have already called for the proposed school closures to be paused until after the pandemic, but the reality is that the Welsh Government could provide Powys County Council with the funds needed to keep these schools open.

“The Welsh Government have received £5.85 billion in additional funding since the start of the pandemic, it is about time they committed to giving some of the unspent money they are sitting on to local authorities so they can support education and avoid unnecessary council tax rises.”

While a funding increase of 4.3 per cent for PCC was announced by the Welsh Government at the end of last year, strain on local authority services has increased due to the coronavirus pandemic and their budget has been increasingly stretched as a result.

Due to this budgetary pressure, at the beginning of February PCC announced plans to close the four schools.

Responding to Miss Jones, local government minister Luke Hall described the funding given to the Welsh Government as “substantial” and encouraged them to meet with Miss Jones to discuss how best to protect the public services in Brecon and Radnorshire.

A Welsh Government spokesperson said: “We believe that local authorities are best placed to judge local needs and circumstances and to fund schools accordingly.

“The provisional local government settlement was published on December 22 and saw funding for Powys increasing by four per cent for 2021/2022. In addition, we have announced more than £600m for local councils in Wales to respond to the impacts of the pandemic this year.

“We also introduced an annual grant of £2.5m in 2017 to address the main challenges faced by small and rural schools to encourage innovation, raise standards and support collaborative working.”