Flintshire councillors vote against halting Catholic super-school consultation
Public confidence in the consultation process around Flintshire’s Catholic super-schools proposals has not been damaged by its relaunch.
The Cabinet Member for Education, Youth and Welsh Language Cllr Mared Eastwood made the claim as she defended the authority during a debate on a Notice of Motion titled ‘Loss of Confidence: Halt the Schools Closure Consultation’.
The motion related to the authority’s Catholic super-school plans. Those plans, which are currently open for public consultation, would see the closure of St Anthony’s Primary in Saltney, St David’s in Mold, St Mary’s in Flint and St Richard Gwyn High School in Flint.
Replacing them would be a £55 million 3-18 super school in Flint owned and operated by the Diocese of Wrexham.
The plans were previously halted at the 11th hour following a legal challenge that prevented a final decision from being made before the statutory deadline.
Now the plans – which were originally opposed by 96% of respondents during a record-breaking consultation – have been relaunched without any changes.
At a meeting of Flintshire County Council on Wednesday Liberal Democrat Group Leader Cllr Andrew Parkhurst argued: “This motion is not about whether St Anthony’s, St David’s, St Mary’s or St Richard Gwynn should ultimately remain open or closed. That is a debate for another day.
“It is about whether this council has sufficient confidence in the current consultation process to allow it to continue.
“The previous consultation generated overwhelming public concern. It also resulted in legal challenges that made sufficient issues for the council to abandon the process and start again.
“Yet neither the Education, Youth and Culture Overview and Scrutiny Committee nor this council has ever been given the opportunity to understand why that consultation failed or what legal advice led to the decision to restart it.
“Members are being asked to support a fresh consultation without knowing what went wrong the first time or whether those issues have genuinely been addressed. That is not good governance.
“There is also an increasing perception that the outcome has already been decided.
“This motion does not seek to stop the consultation, it seeks to restore confidence in it. It simply asks Cabinet to pause, explain why the previous consultation had to be abandoned, demonstrate what has changed, and allow proper scrutiny to proceed with a consultation that is capable of commanding public confidence.”
Cllr Eastwood rejected the suggestion that public confidence had been damaged following the relaunch of the super-school plans.
“I would challenge the narrative that restarting the consultation has fundamentally damaged confidence,” she said. “In fact, the opposite case can reasonably be made.
“Restarting the consultation demonstrates that the council is prepared to listen, reflect and act when concerns arise about process or engagement.
“We have chosen to reset and ensure it is robust, transparent and inclusive. This is a sign of accountability, not failure.
“Public trust is not built on rigidly sticking to a process regardless, it is built on responsiveness. By reopening consultation, we are explicitly giving residents and stakeholders a renewed opportunity to have their voices heard, particularly if they have previously felt excluded or unclear about the proposals.
“It is important to distinguish between short-term frustration and long-term confidence. While restarting may cause delay or inconvenience, the long-term outcome of better engagement, clearer information and more defensible decision-making ultimately strengthens confidence in the council’s governance.
“Had we not restarted the consultation in light of the issues released, we would likely face far greater criticism.”
Education and Youth Overview and Scrutiny Committee member Cllr Carolyn Preece said in her view, Cabinet had not been listening so far.
“I feel our voice has not been heard,” said the Flintshire People’s Voice member. “The majority of the committee wanted a halt for this. They wanted it to be a reset for people to understand and see what went wrong with the previous consultation. Not to dive straight into another one.”
Cllr Fran Lister, also part of the Lib Dem group, expressed her concerns over the impact on staff and pupils.
“At the moment, public confidence is low,” she said. “The level of stress on families and staff is very high. Simply restarting the consultation without setting out first what has changed is not good enough.
“Are we likely to be restarting a third consultation in a few months time following a further legal challenge?”
Saltney Cllr Richard Lloyd – who represents one of the areas directly affected, said the consultation must not be stopped.
“My residents and Cllr Jason Shalcross’ residents in Saltney deserve to have a consultation,” he told the chamber.
“We need to know what they have to say. What would be the consequences if this consultation didn’t go ahead? It’s important that their views are heard and they should be heard now, not put off again and again.
“The consultation is there and they have the opportunity to put their views forward so I can’t agree with the notice of the motion. There’s certain things I do agree with, I don’t agree with it all, so unfortunately I can’t support it at this time.”
Following the debate the notice to halt the consultation was narrowly defeated 26 votes to 21.
By Alec Doyle – Local Democracy Reporter
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