Machynlleth Town Council held an extraordinary meeting last week to discuss the Ysgol Bro Hyddgen language proposal, after receiving numerous letters from concerned parents”.

Earlier this month, Machynlleth councillors attended an extraordinary meeting to discuss a proposal for the phased transition of Ysgol Bro Hyddgen from being a dual-stream school to a Welsh-medium school.

During May’s full council meeting, councillors discussed the letters they had received from “many parents”, expressing their concerns about the change, and organised for the extraordinary meeting to take place. During this extraordinary meeting, councillors also discussed a petition set up by parents at the school in opposition to the change.

Councillors had discussed the proposal during previous meetings, including during the October 2020 meeting when three parents from the school presented their concerns and during the January 2021 when chair of governors and county councillor Elwyn Vaughan urged them to support the proposal. But the council had not taken any official action either in support or not.

Councillors, except for Cllr Ann MacGarry and Cllr Michael Williams who declared an interest, gave their individual opinions on the proposal during the meeting.

Most councillors, except for Cllr James Honeybill, expressed their opposition to the proposal, with mayor Cllr Tony Jones labelling it “an absolute disgrace”.

Cllr Honeybill said, while he understood concerns, the proposal was a “result of a highly critical inspection by Estyn”, adding the town council should be at “the forefront” of ensuring no child gets “left behind”.

“I firmly believe bilingualism is the way forward,” Cllr Honeybill continued.

“Children with knowledge of a language makes them part of a country, of a culture, with an understanding of how it ticks at all levels.”

However, Cllr Richie Gaskell said: “I just feel we should listen to the local people and the feeling around town is they’re against it.”

Cllr Noella Elliot stated it was “every parent’s fundamental right to chose where their children are educated”, adding: “Somebody pointed out that, in actual fact, in a way, they’re segregating the English from the Welsh. That’s not my view, do not quote me on that.”

Cllr Gareth Jones criticised the council for not taking action in previous meetings.

“We’ve already let down our constituents twice, we must not do it again,” he said.

All councillors, except for Cllr Honeybill, voted to send a letter to Powys County Council, expressing their opposition.

On 18 May, Powys County Council Cabinet gave the go-ahead for a statutory notice to be published, formally proposing the change. It is due to be published after the summer half term and people will have 28 days to submit objections.