Eighteen schools have closed across Powys over recent years.
A Written Assembly Question submitted by the Welsh Conservatives to the Welsh Government’s Cabinet Secretary for Education showed that since 2006 there have been 157 school closures across Wales, 60% of them in rural Wales.
The areas worst affected by closures are Ceredigion (20 closures) and Powys (18 closures), followed by Gwynedd (8 closures) and Conwy (6 closures).
Responding to the figures, Russell George, Assembly Member for Montgomeryshire said:
“The disproportionate rate at which schools in rural Wales are being shut down shows that the Welsh Government is failing to protect the interests of communities across Powys.
“Now that we have a new Cabinet Secretary for Education, Kirsty Williams AM, who represents a large part of Powys, I will be looking for this trend to be reversed because I believe no rural school delivering the national curriculum should close, without the agreement of parents and governors.”
The Welsh Liberal Democrat manifesto for the 2016 Assembly Election committed to a Rural Schools Bill which would create a “presumption against closure”. However, the agreement between the Labour Party and the Welsh Liberal Democrat AM, Kirsty Williams, has not referred to this commitment.
At a recent meeting of Powys County Council, Welsh Liberal Democrat Councillors were criticised for calling for a moratorium on any further decisions in relation to the Council’s approach to school reorganisation on the basis that the new Cabinet Secretary for Education had signalled a change in policy. Councillors rejected the proposal on the basis that no evidence to this effect has yet been presented by the Welsh Government.
Mr George added:
“Rural schools are at the heart of community life, often providing the only public building for miles around, and the threat of closure still hangs over a number of rural schools across Mid Wales.
“I support calls for a rural education policy, which recognises the unique needs of rural schools compared to their urban counterparts. It is disappointing that Kirsty Williams hasn’t heeded the advice of her party colleagues on Powys County Council in ensuring that this was a main plank of her agreement to join with the Welsh Labour Government or in how she intends to implement the Lib Dem commitment to a “presumption against closure”.
"It's vital that rural local authorities get a better deal from the Welsh Government in the future and that alternatives to closure, such as schools working together to share staff and resources, are given the chance to work before closure is considered.
"School closures are sucking the lifeblood out of rural Wales; they undermine communities and damage local economies. Now that we have a Cabinet Secretary for Education who represents a Mid Wales constituency, I will be looking for her to champion a better deal for rural Wales to prevent unnecessary school closures in the future.”