New bid to tackle pupil numbers

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Cardiff council is looking again at falling pupil numbers, six months after controversial plans to close 17 schools were thrown out.

Population predictions for the council estimate that pupil numbers will fall by nearly 2,800 over the next 12 years.

The shake-up to deal with 8,600 surplus places was rejected but new plans to tackle the issue are being drafted.

The council says "doing nothing is not an option" but want to ensure plans are based on "robust" information.

Chair of the council's children and young people scrutiny committee, Councillor Freda Salway said it was clear the issue of school organisation planning was "not going go away" and that falling pupil numbers were "a drain on precious resources".

"However, we have to ensure the data used in formulating such a critical plan is accurate," Ms Salway said.

"Doing nothing is not an option, all sides agree on that, but as we move forward the committee will attempt to make sure the data is robust enough to make solid plans everyone can agree on."

CARDIFF PUPIL NUMBERS 2004: 51,5492006: 47,0202010: 45,304 <i>predicted</i>2018: 44,225 <i>predicted</i>

The examination, which starts with a committee meeting on Monday, includes looking at new housing developments, numbers of people moving to the city and demand for Welsh medium education.

A final series of recommendations is expected to be drawn up in December.

The Cardiff Research Centre was commissioned last year to produce population estimates.

It is predicted that the city's population will grow by 5% or 16,000 over the next 10 years.

But the numbers of children under 14 will fall by around 2.7% or 1,661, although this is not as big a fall as for Wales as a whole.

Demonstrations by parents and pupils were held against the reorganisation plans proposed earlier this year.

After a three hour debate, councillors voted by 38 to 28 to reject the plans in April.