PLANS for a £12.7m primary school will go in front of council planners next week, described as a “significant” reorganisation of education in the city Bangor.

Next Monday will see Gwynedd Council’s Planning Committee consider a recommendation to build a brand new 420 capacity school to replace Ysgol y Garnedd, Ysgol Babanod Coedmawr and Ysgol Glanadda.

The £12.7m investment is due to be built adjacent to the existing Ysgol y Garnedd, which will shut once the new building is in place.

At present the school has 305 pupils on the books despite only being designed to accommodate 210 – a situation described by officers as “unsustainable.”

Ysgol Babanod Coedmawr and Ysgol Glanadda would also close in the summer of 2020 with places offered to pupils in the brand new Ysgol y Garnedd.

The new school will provide fourteen classrooms, two additional learning needs (ALN) classrooms, a cylch meithrin along with a number of different teaching spaces, staff and administration areas and a large hall.

Cllr Gareth Thomas, the Cabinet Member for Education, said: “As a Council, we are committed to ensuring that we provide a world class education for the children and young people of the Bangor catchment area.

“The £12.7 million investment jointly funded by Gwynedd Council and the Welsh Government will ensure that children in the area are educated in a school that provides a learning environment fit for the 21st century.”

The officers’ report that will be presented to councillors on Monday, notes: “The development would include extending the Ysgol y Garnedd site to include part of a playing field belonging to Ysgol Friars.

“The new school is to be erected on a site which currently forms part of the Friars site, whilst the site of the school that is to be demolished will be used to create playing fields and a car park.”

However, some concerns have been raised over aspects of the plan, with the public consultation raising potential issues regarding noise and disturbance emanating from the school and affecting homes on Penrhos Road as well as concern regarding water drainage from the site and that the proposed new culvert would not be sufficient to avoid flooding issues.

Aspects of the construction plan have also raised concern, with residents living along Penrhos Road objecting to the proposal to divert construction vehicles down their road and the general unsuitability of the road for such a purpose.

But the officers’ recommendation, goes on to note: “Consideration was given to all material issues, including all matters raised by objectors, and it is not believed that the proposal is likely to cause any long-term unacceptable detrimental impact on nearby residents or the community in general and it will be possible to manage any short-term impacts by imposing appropriate conditions on the development.”

The plans will be discussed when Gwynedd Council’s Planning Committee meets in Caernarfon on Monday afternoon.