TORFAEN cabinet yesterday gave approval to the council to submit a full business case for its Cwmbran secondary school merger plan.

More than 4,000 people signed a petition against the merger of Fairwater High and Llantarnam School in Cwmbran.

The new school, provisionally called Cwmbran High, will open at the site of Fairwater school in September 2015.

But the work will not be complete until two years later in July 2017, a Torfaen Cabinet report revealed.

Yesterday’s approval for the full business case to be submitted was passed so that as much of the refurbishment at Fairwater as possible can be completed before September next year.

Cllr David Yeowell, the Cabinet member for Corporate Governance and Community Safety, said: “We need to advance with some urgency. The new school configuration is to be up and running for September 2015 and as much as we can do between now and then we need to do because it feeds into the whole notion of well-integrated start.”

A timetable for the refurbishment at Fairwater High to make way for the new school was published in a report circulated to the Cabinet yesterday.

The council report states: “The aim is to complete as much of the refurbishment as possible by September 2015, minimising the disruption to the school and potentially bringing forward the final completion date.”

A Torfaen council spokesman told the Argus: “The proposal to Cabinet is to begin spending the council’s £3m share of the overall £6m in early 2015, which will ensure that much of the work is completed before the new school opens in September 2015.

“This will reduce disruption for pupils and the likelihood of needing temporary accommodation. The remainder of the investment will take place once approval has been given by Welsh Government and will be phased beyond September 2015.”