The Progressive Partnership for Powys

We face a demographic drift of young people moving away from Powys, and particularly from our most rural communities. We need to ensure that through all the services that Powys Council provides, and through our partnerships with others, we can secure the education, training, jobs and affordable homes that our young people need if they are to stay in our rural communities.

We will review the schools re-organisation programme and establish a new model of primary and secondary school organisation which provides a more sustainable future for our schools and communities.

School staff and pupils are more important than school buildings. We will carry out a cost/benefit analysis to ensure that the significant costs of all new buildings can be fully justified at a time of rising building costs and interest rates and will initiate a full audit to understand how build costs spiralled on recently completed projects.

Too many young people leave our county for their post-16 education. We will work in close partnership with the Further and Higher Education sectors and work-based learning providers to optimise the use of new technology to ensure increased opportunities for post 16 education and training are available without the need to travel outside the county.

Youth Services can do much to support young people in areas which lack a wide range of youth facilities. Young people need places where they can meet in safety and comfort. We will re-invest in the county youth service and support others working with young people.

We will continue to encourage the use of the Welsh language in Powys, both through increasing opportunities for use of Welsh in schools to encouraging further opportunities for the use and learning of the language in any aspect of life.