THE expansion of Abergavenny’s Welsh medium school is a step closer after councillors agreed to issue formal notices to increase its capacity and move it “up the road”.

Ysgol Gymraeg Y Fenni currently has room for 317 pupils but that will increase to 420 when the primary relocates from its current site in St David’s Road to the Deri View Primary school in September 2025.

The new site will allow the Welsh medium, that has an annual intake 45 pupils, to have a two form entry.

Deri View now forms part of the King Henry 3-19 School but will become vacant when the purpose built new school, which will house all pupils, opens in April 2025. The £70m building was supposed to open in the upcoming autumn term.

Monmouthshire County Council’s cabinet had agreed in January to consult on increasing the capacity of Ysgol Gymraeg Y Fenni and relocating it to the Deri View site, from April 2025, and has now noted the outcome of the consultation, that was supportive, and agreed to publish the necessary legal notices.

Abergavenny councillor Martyn Groucutt, the cabinet member for education, said he had been an education officer when the former Gwent County Council opened the Welsh medium school in 1994.

“Back in the day when I was part of the senior leadership team in Gwent we opened Ysgol Y Fenni with 12 pupils on the first day and we are now proposing to open a 420 pupil school,” said Cllr Groucutt.

Cllr Groucutt said the relocation is “effectively a move up the road to what I still think of as Llwynu Infants and Juniors” which would allow Ysgol Y Fenni, which has to use temporary classrooms for up to 137 pupils, to “expand and breath out” as it is “crammed into its present site”.

He said the proposal has the “full support” of school inspectors Estyn and the Gwent Education Achievement Service, which supports the area’s councils in delivering education.

As well as providing 420 school places there will also be 60 part-time Meithrin nursery places.

The consultation found responses from parents and the community were supportive although two people had commented negatively claimed Welsh medium education should not a priority for Monmouthshire taxpayers and that school development plans were “a waste of money”. The council has allocated £1 million to support the relocation and undertake any required refurbishment works at Deri View.

Council leader Mary Ann Brocklesby said: “Some of the responses show how excited parents and some of the children are about the move and knowing the area well it has a much better view.”

Llanfoist and Govilon cabinet member Ben Callard said the school’s popularity isn’t only due to the demand for Welsh medium education but the fact that ‘it is a great school’.

The statutory notices stating the council’s plans will be published on the June 17 for a period of 28 days giving anyone wishing to comment until July 16 to do so.