NEATH Port Talbot Council will submit an application to the Charity Commission for England and Wales this year, for the approval of a scheme that uses proceeds from the sale of the former Glanafan Comprehensive School site.
The Port Talbot-based school, which was closed in 2016, was declared surplus to council requirement more than seven years ago, with students relocating to two new schools at Ysgol Bae Baglan and Ysgol Cwm Brombil.
While ownership of the site has since been passed on to Coastal Housing Group, the proceeds from the sale are expected to go towards supporting teaching and learning for pupils in the schools that have replaced the former Glanafan Comprehensive School, namely in the areas of creative technologies and systems.
The report explained how the use of these funds would need to be approved by the Charity Commission, to satisfy a clause as the land was gifted to the then Glamorgan Council by industrialist Emily Charlotte Talbot in 1891, with specific purpose to provide local students with a school for technical and manual instruction.
While this purpose is no longer seen as possible, local councillors believe the funds should still go towards a scheme that supports teaching and learning in the 21st Century.
The report read: “Although in the ownership of the council, the land comprising the site of the former Glanafan Comprehensive school was gifted to the former authority for the area, Glamorgan County Council, for a specific purpose and, consequent upon this, its sale carried a restriction and it is necessary to submit an application to the Charity Commission for approval of a charitable scheme for the disposal of the proceeds of the sale of the former Glanafan Comprehensive School site.
“Members are requested to consider a proposal to use the financial benefits accrued from the sale of the former Glanafan Comprehensive school site to invest in pupils’ education through improving access to the set of skills, knowledge and attitudes to enable the confident, creative and critical use of technologies and systems.”
While exact details about how the money could be used have not yet been disclosed, further recommendations around the proceeds of the sale will now be given to the committee following the response from the Charity Commission later this year.
