APOLOGIES have been given after former pupils of a school that had closed saw a group of young people entering and playing there as if it was a normal school day.
In a question at full council on Wednesday, February 12, Councillor Karen Morgan, Plaid Cymru, said the children of Rhigos village witnessed children entering and leaving Rhigos Primary School and playing in the playground leading them to ask their parents if the school was open now and would they be able to go to school there again.
She said the council recently hired out the school to a film production company which is making a new Sky television show called Under Salt Marsh starring the likes of Kelly Reilly and Jonathan Pryce.
It was being filmed there in January and is described as a crime thriller set in the fictional Welsh town of Morfa Halen, a tight-knit community precariously nestled between towering mountains and a fast-encroaching sea that threatens its very existence.
Cllr Morgan asked the education cabinet member Councillor Rhys Lewis if he agreed that the timing of this was insensitive and disrespectful to the feelings of the children and residents of Rhigos, coming so soon after closing their school against their wishes.
Rhigos Primary School was closed last year after a decision by cabinet despite widespread local opposition.
Cllr Lewis said he agreed with the sentiment contained within the question and that he was “very disappointed” to learn that the school had been used for that purpose.
He said his understanding was that an apology had been issued by the relevant department and the production company to the residents and community of Rhigos.
