COUNCIL chiefs agreed today to submit plans to the Welsh Government to replace all local authority sixth forms with a 1,000-place college in Cwmbran.

In July, Welsh Government rejected earlier proposals for the centre, which would have included an Engineering Centre of Excellence.

The £25m Torfaen Post-16 Centre would deliver a mix of A and AS levels, Btecs and the Welsh baccalaureate for sixth formers throughout the borough.

The sixth form at the Welsh Language secondary school serving the region, Ysgol Gyfun Gwynllyw in Pontypool, would be unaffected by the proposal.

Works to the post 16 college could begin in 2018 and open to students in autumn or winter 2019, if the proposals are approved by the Welsh Government.

The proposals would also help to provide a new Croesyceiliog School as part of a package provided by the Welsh Government.

Education Cabinet member, Cllr David Yeowell, said today: “What this new initiative will create is a modern, fit-for-purpose centre that offers a wider curriculum than that which is currently in existence.

“And more importantly this is worth emphasising that it will be available to all of our pupils irrespective of where they live.

“The only option left to us, and I think it’s a positive one, is the one that is on the table at the moment, and I think we should embrace it enthusiastically and work with it.”

Torfaen council is proposing to build and run the 1,000-place centre on Welsh Government owned land at an estimated build and fit-out cost of £25m.

The Welsh Government would pay for half the centre, with the other half footed by Torfaen taxpayers.

Welsh Government is also expected to provide the site of the post 16 centre in Cwmbran either for free or for a peppercorn rent.

Cllr Yeowell said the education provision for post 16 pupils had been “patchy” in some parts of Torfaen.

A statutory consultation will be necessary to close the current English Medium secondary schools’ sixth forms in Torfaen.

The Torfaen Cabinet report states: “The move from sixth forms in schools to a post 16 centre will create significant HR ‘churn’ in the system.

“Also, in a purely financial sense, the loss of the sixth forms will also make the affected schools less efficient in that the premises’ costs will largely remain for less pupils.”

Torfaen Cabinet agreed to submit a strategic outline case for the centre to the Welsh Government today.