Home » Budget constraints drive Rhondda Cynon Taf to consider school and care home closures

Budget constraints drive Rhondda Cynon Taf to consider school and care home closures

The Rhondda Cynon Taf Council HQ at Llys Cadwyn in Pontypridd (Pic: LDR Anthony Lewis)

COUNCILS across Wales and the UK are currently having to make difficult decisions about the future of the services they run for various reasons.

In Rhondda Cynon Taf the council has been consulting on several proposals which could see some key services closed including two schools and two care homes.

The main issues that the authority highlights in relation to these are low occupancy rates and unsustainable levels of subsidy at the care homes and declining pupil numbers and the condition of buildings at the schools.

There are ongoing consultations on the potential of closing two schools, Tref-Y-Rhyg Primary School in Tonyrefail and Trallwng Infants School in Pontypridd.

There are also consultations happening on proposals to close care homes for the elderly in Hawthorn (Cae Glas) and Ferndale (Ferndale House) with a new specialist dementia facility planned in Fendale.

Here’s the rationale that the council has given for considering these closures.

Ferndale House in Ferndale

Ferndale House Care Home In Ferndale (Pic: Google Maps)

The closure of Ferndale House would mean the loss of 26 residential care beds comprising 16 general residential and 10 residential dementia beds.

In September the council’s cabinet also agreed to develop a new 32-bed residential dementia care home on the former Chubb Factory site in Ferndale.

Those affected in the short term would be accommodated within the council’s current homes or in other independent homes on a temporary basis until the new care home development at the former Chubb Factory site is available.

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All current residents of Ferndale House will be offered the option to move back to the new care home when it opens and the council said it will consider any extended travel that families of current residents of Ferndale House may incur as a result of the decision to close the home.

The reason for considering closing the home given by the council is that Ferndale House has a “poor physical environment” with a “problematic layout” and does not provide residents with the high level and quality of accommodation which it would wish.

It says this has contributed to the low resident numbers and levels of occupancy and that the current council net budget (level of subsidy) for Ferndale House is £1.16m year, which it says adds significant additional cost pressures to the council adding that this is not sustainable, particularly at a time when there is an over supply of residential care beds across Rhondda Cynon Taf.

Cae Glas care home in Hawthorn

Cae Glas Care Home In Hawthorn, Pontypridd (Pic: Google Maps)

The proposed closure of Cae Glas in Ferndale, if agreed, would mean the loss of 39 residential dementia care beds.

The council said the surplus capacity in the market is acknowledged but there are some risks associated with the potential closure of this larger care home.

It says the independent sector is currently operating at 95% capacity.

Rhondda Cynon Taf has experienced three independent sector care home closures over the past three years and no new providers have moved into the area since.

The council said that regulatory changes to the specification of a care home now create a barrier for the transfer of registration to a new owner and substantial capital is required for any new entrant into the local market to replace any further home closures that could arise.

Due to the complexity of meeting the needs of people with dementia the risk of further closures are greater for the local authority than those in general residential care.

But the council said the closure of Cae Glas can be mitigated, in part, by increasing the residential dementia capacity in the newly-refurbished area of Parc Newydd care home in Talbot Green by 10 beds to provide permanent and respite capacity in the short term while waiting for the start of the proposed Ferndale and Mountain Ash care accommodation developments.

Tegfan care home in Aberdare is in the process of transitioning to a dementia residential only home to provide 46 beds.

The current council net budget (level of subsidy) for Cae Glas is £1.61m per year, which the council said overspends annually adding significant additional cost pressures which it said is not sustainable, particularly at a time when there is an oversupply of residential care beds across Rhondda Cynon Taf.

Tref-Y-Rhyg Primary School in Tonyrefail

A campaign to save Tref y Rhyg Primary School has been set up (Pic: Sian Garland)

The proposal being consulted on for Tref-Y-Rhyg Primary School is to close the school with pupils transferring to Tonyrefail Community School by no later than September 2025 and see the catchment for Tonyrefail Community School extended.

The reasons for proposal being considered are that Tref-Y-Rhyg Primary has a capacity of 157 pupils and pupil numbers are projected to steadily decline in future years.

Council data says 82 pupils attend the school, meaning there are currently almost 48% surplus places, and this is projected to reduce to 54 pupils attending by 2028/29 (65.6% surplus places).

The school building was built in around 1899 and a property condition survey in 2022 indicated it is graded ‘C’ for condition and ‘D’ for suitability (where ‘A’ is the highest rating and ‘D’ is the lowest).

The council says the building needs major repair or refurbishment with a backlog of maintenance of £381,040 – not including extra funding that is required for the school to reach 21st century standards.

The authority says the limited outdoor areas are not suitable for staff to deliver the Curriculum for Wales through outdoor learning and the site is graded ‘D’ for accessibility and does not fully comply with the Equality Act 2010.

The council says Tonyrefail Community School is a three to 19 school with a 385-pupil capacity in the primary phase and had a £44m investment in 2020.

A council report said that Tonyrefail Community School is projected to have 7.5% surplus places by 2028-29 and a planned capacity increase in the primary phase (by 30 to 415) will further increase the number of available school places.

It said all Tref-Y-Rhyg Primary pupils could be accommodated by Tonyrefail Community School in September 2025.

Trallwng Infants School

Trallwng Infants School (Pic: Google Maps)

The proposal here is to close Trallwng Infants’ School in Pontypridd with pupils transferring to the nearby Coedpenmaen Primary School by no later than September 2025.

The council says Trallwng Infants’ has a 105-pupil capacity across the reception to year two age groups and pupil numbers have significantly decreased with just 50 pupils in attendance in 2023-24, down from 75 in 2019/20, and only 30 of those living in the school’s catchment area.

It says projections for 2028-29 suggest a further drop to 48 pupils resulting in a surplus capacity of 54.3%.

The council says the school building was graded ‘C’ for condition and ‘C’ for suitability (where ‘A’ is the highest rating and ‘D’ is the lowest) in the most-recent survey in 2022 while the site does not fully comply with the Equality Act 2010.

The building is also said to have a total backlog of maintenance of £227,760 which does not include extra funding that is required for the school to reach 21st century standards.

Coedpenmaen Primary is a three to 11 school that currently provides the catchment area for Trallwng Infants’ when pupils reach year three.

Council figures say that the school has capacity for 269 statutory school-age pupils with 242 pupils currently attending during 2023-24 and projections show this number decreasing to 222 pupils in 2028-29.

A council report said there would remain a surplus capacity at Coedpenmaen Primary at the start of the 2025-26 academic year with all current Trallwng Infants’ pupils being accommodated and the council would invest in improvements to the existing Coedpenmaen Primary School facilities.

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