North Powys’ new Senedd Member is calling for “less talk and more action” over the long-delayed Machynlleth school development.

Discussions on building a new school for the town started 20 years ago, but new hope on the horizon came recently as Welsh government gave the go-ahead for the plans to build a new school.

The council is in the process of putting the tender out to find a design and build contractor, however the plans have yet again been thrown into doubt after concerns were raised at the May Powys Finance Panel.

Speaking in the meeting, Cllr Aled Davies said he had “real concerns” about some of the “big investments going forward” and whether they aligned with the improvements Powys’ education sector needed, adding: “Going forward with the build of a secondary school with less than 300 places will inevitably lead to higher revenue costs because its more expensive to deliver the range of choice within a smaller setting than it is a bigger setting.”

The £46m project would merge the town’s primary and secondary schools into one school built on the existing secondary school site of Ysgol Bro Hyddgen.

It would consolidate 540 pupils onto one campus, including childcare and early years provision, with the current timeline seeing the new school open by September 2029.

During the 13 May meeting, Cllr Davies was reminded that all projects require robust business cases that go through multiple stages of scrutiny, and require the backing of both Powy’s cabinet and Welsh government for approval, with Head of Transforming Education Marianne Evans pointing out, “these big expensive projects do have to show value for money in the overall budget, so every project is subject to scrutiny.”

The development has endured multiple setbacks including the collapse of a contracted construction firm Dawnus.

Elwyn Vaughan, recently elected Plaid Senedd Member for Dwyfor Meironnydd and former Powys Councillor, condemned Cllr Davies' comments, branding it as an “ attempt to block this development” and “finding excuses to undermine it”.

MS Vaughan said: “He needs to be reminded that the business case has not only been approved by the Powys Cabinet but also subsequently by Welsh Government and has committed 65 per cent of the funding.

“These communities have waited 20 years for this investment and to have a leading conservative councillor try to undermine this at this stage merely to support his pet projects is intolerable and unjustifiable.”

In response, Councillor Davies described Vaughan’s comments as “inaccurate and irresponsible: “I am not “blocking” the Bro Hyddgen project.

“I am doing the job I was elected to do — safeguarding public money.

“As Chair of the Finance Panel, I have a duty to scrutinise spending decisions, particularly when we are talking about a £49 million project funded by taxpayers and place significant long-term pressure on the council’s annual budget.

“At a time when schools across Powys are under strain and crying out for investment, it would be negligent not to ask whether this represents the best and fairest use of limited resources.”