‘There is a great will in the community to see this delivered,’ says council leader
A senior councillor has welcomed plans for a new secondary school in Swansea to offer vocational skills at a time when the construction sector was facing a major shortage of them. Cllr Andrea Lewis, whose cabinet responsibilities include housing, said she believed the planned relocation of Bishop Vaughan Catholic School to a different site would benefit the area.
The council maintains and builds houses and wants to add many more to its stock. Cllr Lewis described the construction skills gap as “huge” and added: “It’s really important that our ageing workforce is replaced by young people.”
She was speaking at a cabinet meeting where colleagues were updated on plans to build a new Bishop Vaughan school for 1,400 pupils at the site of the former Daniel James Community School just under a mile away in Mynyddbach.
Council leader Rob Stewart said people in the area were keen to see vocational skills offered. “There is a great will in the community to see this delivered,” he said.
The hope is the Welsh Government will fund 85% of the project with the council providing the remaining 15% on the basis that it benefits from the sale of, or other financial benefits deriving from, the current Bishop Vaughan site in Clase.
This will require a land swap to be agreed between the council and the Archdiocese of Cardiff-Menevia, which oversees a network of schools in South Wales and Herefordshire including Bishop Vaughan. Never miss a Swansea story by signing up to our newsletter here
Cllr Robert Smith, cabinet member for education and learning, thanked officers and archdiocese representatives for their efforts on what he said has been “a very meticulous project”.
A report before cabinet described Bishop Vaughan school’s condition as very poor and said site constraints were significant. Cllr Lewis said: “It’s been over 10 years since my children attended Bishop Vaughan school and it was not in the best condition then.”
A linked project to demolish Daniel James Community School, which closed in 2012, is also being taken forward. Cabinet will receive further reports about the demolition and new-build plans and expects to submit a full business case to the Welsh Government for the new-build school early in 2027.
The aim is for the new Bishop Vaughan school to open in 2029-30 with pupils and staff remaining at the current site until then.
Speaking in May about the relocation proposals a spokesman for the archdiocese said: “This exciting project will provide first-class facilities and a state-of-the art learning environment not only for current pupils but for future generations of learners in Swansea.”
Cabinet, meanwhile, also committed £7m towards a scheme which will result in the replacement of two teaching blocks at Gowerton School with a new building.
The condition of another teaching block will also be improved.
The £7m approved by cabinet is for detailed design and the pre-construction phase of the project, which Cllr Smith said would include community benefits. It’s not expected that a full business case will be submitted to ministers before summer 2027.
