CONSTRUCTION of a Welsh Medium primary school at Barry Waterfront has been delayed a year.

Ysgol Sant Baruc, in Barry, was due to relocate to the development but negotiations between the Vale council and the consortium of housing developers have taken longer than expected.

The new school building is now scheduled to be open for September 22 rather than September 2021.

The council’s cabinet formally agreed the proposal to provide additional school places to meet the future demand for Welsh Medium education by expanding Ysgol Sant Baruc from 210 places to 420 places from September 2021 on July 29, 2019.

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To accommodate the increased capacity, it was proposed and agreed that Ysgol Sant Baruc would relocate to a new school building constructed on the Barry Waterfront development.

The consortium of housing developers comprising Persimmon Homes, Taylor Wimpey and Barratt Homes are responsible for constructing the new school in accordance with the Section 106 Agreement.

The Section 106 agreement was reached in 2012 and required the consortium of developers to construct a school on a 1.5-hectare site, which they own on the Waterfront, and then transfer the site and the new school to the council upon completion.

A Vale council spokeswoman said: “Due to the proposal to relocate and expand Ysgol Sant Baruc to a new 420 place primary school building on the Waterfront the council needed to renegotiate the agreement with the consortium of developers.

“These negotiations have been taking place over the last 12 months and the council has now agreed the financial contributions and delivery programme.

“These negotiations have taken longer than originally anticipated.

“Due to the delay in reaching this agreement with the consortium, construction of the new school building will unfortunately not be completed for September 2021.”

She added: “On 4 July 2020, the council’s managing director approved a revised implementation date for the proposal to increase the capacity of Ysgol Sant Baruc from 210 places to 420 places.

“The proposal will now be implemented from September 2022 in line with the construction of the new school building.

“The council has reviewed demand for Welsh medium primary school places and is satisfied that there is sufficient capacity to meet demand for the September 2021 intake.”