PLANS are afoot to revolutionise sixth form provision in Torfaen as part of a wider £50m investment in secondary education in the borough.

A sixth form centre is to be built in Cwmbran to replace the county's school sixth forms, at a cost of £20m.

Meanwhile £30m is to be spent rebuilding Croesyceiliog School on its existing site.

The cost wil be split between Torfaen council and the Welsh Assembly.

The council will have to secure approval for the plans, which have been developed under the Welsh Assembly Government's 21st Century Schools programme, a nationwide project to improve educational facilities.

At a cabinet meeting yesterday councillors backed both plans which were discussed separately.

If they go ahead, the sixth form centre will replace all English-medium schools sixth forms in Torfaen by September 2019, delivering A-levels, the Welsh Baccalaureate and complimentary level two and three qualifications.

In a further change the centre would be run by Coleg Gwent, which will maintain its existing campus in Pontypool.

Head of education services at the council, Dermot McChrystal said the centre would accommodate 900-1000 pupils.

Existing sixth forms at Cwmbran High, St Albans RV and Croesyceiliog would be phased out. It is expected that there will be redundancies among sixth form staff as they will effectively have to compete for jobs at the new centre.

Councillor David Yeowell cabinet member for education described the plan as "the best thing to happen in post-16 education in the borough for decades."

He added that post-16 education in the borough needed to be rationalised as it had been a bit lop-sided.

He said: "If you lived in Cwmbran you were adequately serviced, if you lived north of Cwmbran it was an ad hoc arrangement at best and non-existent at worst."

He acknowledged that some people had argued for the centre to be built in the north of the borough but said the Cwmbran site had proved to be the best option.

The planned investment in a new £30m Croesyceiliog school was welcomed given the current state of the building.

Cllr Richard Clark said: “I left the school in 1986 and it was poor quality fabric then. It is letting the school down. Water cascades down the central staircase in the west building. For the benefit of future learners it’s only right that we look at the new school.”

Cllr David Yeowell, added: “I hope that people will support this because it is a step in the right direction and is something that the council has been looking at for decades."

The council will launch a six-week public consultation in October on both plans before they go back to cabinet in January 2017.

A business case for both projects will now go to the Assembly, which will have the final approval.