Councillors demand answers on £55m Catholic super-school as debt and governance concerns mount
Flintshire County Council is being asked to demand answers from Cabinet over why taxpayers face an estimated £30 million borrowing bill for a Catholic super-school building that would be handed to the Diocese of Wrexham on completion.
Three notices of motion targeting the controversial proposal go before full council on Wednesday.
The proposed super-school is a £55 million, 3-to-18 school to be built in Flint. It would see the closure of St Anthony’s Catholic Primary School in Saltney, St David’s in Mold, St Mary’s in Flint, and St Richard Gwyn Catholic High School in Flint.
Under the funding model, 85% of the cost would come from Welsh Government’s Sustainable Communities for Learning programme.
The remaining 15%, described in the motion as approximately £8.325m before interest, inflation and other costs, would be borrowed by Flintshire County Council.
In a voluntary aided school, the 15% local contribution is ordinarily paid by the governors, in this case the Diocese of Wrexham.
The motion, proposed by Cllr David Coggins Cogan and seconded by Cllr Andrew Parkhurst, states that Cabinet has confirmed the completed building would not be retained as a Flintshire County Council asset but would instead be transferred to the Diocese of Wrexham.
It states that Cabinet confirmed, in response to member questions, that estimated borrowing costs covering both interest and minimum revenue provision are £30.9m, based on an average annual cost of £0.618m over a 50-year period.
Cllr Coggins Cogan’s motion argues that Flintshire taxpayers are being asked to fund long-term borrowing for a building that, once completed, would be given away for free, while the council would remain responsible for the majority of running costs, repairs and maintenance.
It calls on the council to require a written report within 15 working days explaining the legal basis for the asset transfer, what contribution was requested from the Diocese, whether any legal or financial advice was obtained, and whether Cabinet was expressly told the building would not be kept as a council asset.
A second motion, proposed by Cllr Parkhurst, calls on Cabinet to immediately halt the restarted consultation on the super-school proposal.
Flintshire County Council restarted the consultation process after an earlier round was paused, but Cllr Parkhurst’s motion argues that the need to restart has “fundamentally damaged public confidence” in how the proposal is being handled.
It cites the School Organisation Code 2026, which requires consultation to take place when proposals are at a formative stage, include sufficient information for meaningful response, allow adequate time, and ensure responses are conscientiously considered.
A third motion, also proposed by Cllr Parkhurst and seconded by Cllr Coggins Cogan, accuses Cabinet of misrepresenting the findings of two internal audit reports commissioned following council motions passed in January 2026.
Those earlier motions concerned whether St Anthony’s had been removed from the council’s online admissions system and whether staff had been monitored on social media in connection with the closure proposals.
The motion states the audit reports confirmed both concerns were substantially correct: that St Anthony’s was unavailable for selection on the admissions system between 10 April and 27 September 2025, and that social media monitoring had taken place, with one post by a member of staff identified, escalated internally and raised with the school.
It accuses Cabinet of presenting the audit findings as showing “no evidence to support the allegations” and calls on the council to condemn both Cabinet and the administration members of the Education, Youth and Culture Overview and Scrutiny Committee for endorsing that characterisation.
The motion also raises a concern that a post flagged in the audit was found in February 2025, before the formal consultation period had opened, meaning the phrase “statutory proposal period” used in the audit report may have been applied imprecisely.
Flintshire County Council’s full council meeting takes place on Wednesday 1 July at 10.30am.
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